Two held for extortion bid on rival businessman

New Delhi: A 32-year-old man and his employee were arrested for allegedly trying to extort Rs 50 lakh from a rival businessman in west Delhi’s Khyala area, police said on Monday.

The accused have been identified as Dinesh Kumar, a resident of Nasirpur, and Mangolpuri-resident Kishore (28), they said.

Kumar worked for six years in an MCB-manufacturing firm belonging to the complainant and left the job over petty issues. In 2019, he started his own company of manufacturing the electric equipment, police said.

The accused demanded Rs 50 lakh extortion from the victim through a note and threatened to kill him and his children. They also mentioned in the note that the threat was from Bawana, an apparent reference to the Neeraj Bawana gang, police said.

On March 16, a Khyala-based businessman received an extortion letter where the alleged had demanded Rs 50 lakh, they said, adding that several CCTVs of the area were checked and a scooter was identified with two suspects riding on it.

The vehicle was found registered in the name of Kumar. On Friday, a trap was laid and Kishore was nabbed. He revealed that the scooter belonged to Kumar, who was also apprehended from Peeragarhi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Ingit Pratap Singh said.

Interrogation revealed that the complainant is the owner of an MCB-manufacturing firm. Kumar is also in the same business. Around 10 years ago, Kumar used to work in the complainant’s firm as a labourer and left the job on petty issues, the DCP said.

Thereafter, he started the same business in 2019, but suffered huge losses, whereas the complainant was doing well in his business, police said.