Two arrested in Gariahat for extortion attempt

Kolkata: Two persons have been arrested in Gariahat for allegedly making attempts to extort money from an astrologer. According to police, on Friday, a man identified as Emon Kalyan Banerjee informed Gariahat police station that a few miscreants were threatening him to extract money. The accused persons instructed him to arrange for the money on Friday and told him that they would collect it from his office.

Based on the information, personnel from the Anti-Rowdy Squad (ARS) of Kolkata Police's Detective Department were instructed to keep a strict vigil in and around the office of Banerjee. On Saturday afternoon, the Anti-Rowdy Squad team reached the spot and beefed up vigilance in the area. In the evening, the police team spotted two youths entering Banerjee's office.

The police team went inside Banerjee's office and found that the two youths, accused for extortion, were threatening Banerjee. The duo identified as Sonu Singh of Kalyani in Nadia and Ajoy Rajbhar of Mogra in Hoogly was detained and taken to Gariahat police station. During the interrogation, the accused persons told the police that earlier they had kidnapped Banerjee to extort money from him.

As per the accused persons' statement, they abducted Banerjee in September this year from Krishnanagar and extorted money from him for his release. Later, Banerjee lodged a complaint at the Krishnanagar Kotwali police station and a case was initiated against the duo and their associates.

Later on Saturday night, Banerjee lodged another complaint at the Gariahat police station and the duo was arrested. It was also learnt that they used to threaten Banerjee to force him to withdraw the complaint lodged in Nadia. The duo revealed that two more persons identified as Shyam and Sandip Bhaduri were their partners in crime during abducting Banerjee in Nadia.