Gurugram, Jun 15 (PTI) A man was arrested here for allegedly posing as a member of Lawrence Bishnoi-Kala Jatheri gang and seeking extortion of Rs 5 crore from a local businessman, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, identified as Aakash who is a native of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, had lost job in the Covid crisis and hatched the plan to extort the businessman, they said.

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Interestingly, the accused had no idea about notoriety of these gangsters, police said, adding that a countrymade pistol, a cartridge and a mobile phone used for extortion calls were recovered from the possession of the accused.

Aakash was nabbed from Basai Chowk on Tuesday night by a team of crime unit, Sector 31, a senior official said, adding the accused arranged the pistol from UP for Rs 3,000.

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According to police, a businessman filed a complaint at Sector 10A police station, alleging that an unknown caller made a WhatsApp call and also sent a voice note seeking money.

“It was around 1:32 pm on Tuesday when I got a WhatsApp call on my mobile phone. The caller claimed that he is a member of Lawrence Bishnoi-Kala Jatheri gang. He was demanding Rs 5 crore and threatened to kill me if I failed,” the businessman said in his complaint.

Following the complaint, an FIR was registered against unidentified persons and the case was assigned to crime unit, Sector 31, said the officer.

Preet Pal Singh Sangwan, ACP (crime), said that the accused's wife was working in a company owned by the businessman. “The accused got the businessman's number and made WhatsApp call for extortion. As he lost his job and his wife was also jobless, he hatched the plan to extort money from businessman and threatened him over call demanding Rs 5 crores using the names of the gangsters. Our crime unit team flung into action and nabbed him within a few hours after the complaint,” said Sangwan.

The accused had no previous criminal record, police said.

The accused was produced in a city court on Wednesday that sent him to judicial custody, they said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)