Businessman's ex-employee, accomplice held for extortion

A businessman's former employee and his accomplice were arrested here for threatening and trying to extort Rs 50 lakh from him, police said on Tuesday.

Pravesh Kumar, 31, and Aman, 22, were arrested on Monday for threatening the businessman on telephone and demanding the money to ensure his son's safety.

The businessman had filed a police complaint on Sunday that a man, later identified as Aman, had made an extortion call. Police did not reveal the name of the businessman.

Police said the SIM used by the caller was issued in the name of Pravesh Kumar. After the extortion call, Pravesh got the SIM blocked by the service provider company saying it had been stolen, Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajneesh Gupta said.

Pravesh mislead investigators initially but later admitted that he along with Aman had tried to extort the money due to financial difficulties.

Pravesh earlier worked for the businessman but left the job and was unemployed ever since. He had also taken Rs 70,000 from Aman as loan.

Aman was demanding him money back. Since Aman too was facing financial problems, both planned to extort money from the businessman, police said.

--IANS

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