New Delhi: Four persons who used voice over internet protocol (VOIP) for extortion of more than Rs one crore were arrested from Badhkal Chowk in Faridabad. Police claimed that they used the names of gangsters like Rajesh Bharti (recently neutralized in an encounter) for generating fear.
One of the accused had political ambition and wanted to enter student politics for which he needed money.
The accused were identified as Sonu (22), Sehdev (23), Mukesh (27) and Sachin Singh (19).
Accused persons used advance mobiles applications over the internet to consistently mask their caller ids.
A complaint of extortion was received at the S J Enclave police station in which the complainant alleged that he received threatening calls for extortion using several the United States and Canada mobile numbers.
The callers demanded Rs 1.8 crore. He further revealed that on June 13, an attempt was made to abduct his son at gunpoint while he was returning home from Faridabad. "The accused were arrested on the basis of an information from Faridabad," the police said.
The police claimed that the team laid a trap at Badkhal Chowk in Faridabad but the accused changed the spot of delivery and asked the complainant to deliver the extortion money on the road approaching NH-2 near the flyover. "Two young boys on a motorcycle approached the car of the victim. One of the persons knocked at the window pane while the other remained on the motorcycle in a ready position," said the police officer.
After taking the ransom bag at the gunpoint, the person tried to flee on the motorcycle but the police team intercepted the motorcycle.
The motorcyclist tried to dodge but the alert police team overpowered them.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Romil Baaniya stated that during the interrogation, the accused Sachin revealed that he had political ambitions. "All the accused are tech-savvy and they used VOIP to dodge the police investigation," said the DCP.
He further added that they were using advanced mobile apps to hide their identity and location. This app creates a new ID and generates a new VOIP number for every extortion call and SMS.
Police sources told Millennium Post that first, the criminals registered in VOIP and then they made internet calls which showed different mobile numbers of different countries.