Kolkata: Two persons were arrested for allegedly blackmailing a senior citizen from Salt Lake.
Police found that a woman along with her son used to blackmail people and demand random amount from them. Both of them were arrested on Saturday.
According to the complaint, one Girdhari Lal Singhal, a resident of GC block in Salt Lake received a phone call on his mobile phone on November 15 evening from one Soumyak Majumdar. But he rejected the call as he couldn't identify any called Soumyak as it appeared on the Truecaller app.
Again on November 21 he got a call from the same number.
When Singhal answered the call Soumyak handed over the phone to his mother Anjana. It was alleged that she ordered Singhal to meet Soumyak soon. She threatened Singhal with dire consequences if he did not abide by her instructions.
Singhal immediately disconnected the call and put the number on the block list. Later, he received several calls from the same number — 8961920096 but got automatically rejected as it was on the block list. On November 22, he received some pictures of his wife from another mobile number on WhatsApp.
Singhal alleged that Soumyak and Anjana managed to download pictures and get details of his family members from Facebook. The details included his daughter and two sons. In due course of time, several messages were sent to Singhal saying several girls would go to his home to malign his image and social status. The pictures of his wife and daughter would be circulated for the same intention. In the next step, the duo demanded Rs 2 lakh from Singhal and said they would discontinue to harass him if he agrees to pay.
On November 23 evening, Singhal lodged a complaint with Bidhannagar South police station reagarding the matter.
On receiving the complaint police asked Singhal to fix an appointment with Anjana pretending to give her the money demanded.
Singhal was also asked to tell Anjana that he would bring a friend along with him. As Anjana did not suspect it to be a trap, she agreed.
On Saturday evening, Anjana came to Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan area in Salt Lake to collect the money. Singhal was waiting with a police officer from Bidhannagar South police station who posed as his friend.
Other police personnel including ladies were in plain cloth waiting for Anjana. After arriving she demanded Rs 5 lakh. But Singhal asked her to finish the matter with Rs 2 lakh to which she refused. In the meantime, police personnel surrounded them.
Anjana was arrested and taken to the police station. Later, police called Soumyak through Anjana at night and arrested him. Both of them were produced before Bidhannagar court on Sunday and were remanded to 4-day police custody.
It was found that Soumyak was previously arrested by Jadavpur police station for allegedly molesting a girl in the year 2013.