Man nabbed for extortion bid

A man claiming to be an aide of a godman has been arrested for making extortion calls to a paediatrician of a top private hospital in the city, police said today.
The accused Virender Kumar, a resident of New Govindpura locality in Krishna Nagar, was arrested from his house by Special Staff of East Delhi police yesterday.
He claimed to be an aide of Golden Baba and that he required money for Kanwad Yatra, said Ajay Kumar, Additional Commissioner of Police (East Delhi).
A complaint was lodged at Anand Vihar police station by Krishna Nagar based Dr Naresh Bhatia, Head of the department of the Paediatrics in Max Hospital.

Dr Bhatia said in his complaint that he was receiving extortion calls and SMSs from an unknown caller, on his mobile phone since August 9. The caller was demanding Rs 5 lakh and threatening dire consequences for the doctor and his family if his demand was not met.
The mobile phone and SIM card used by the accused for calling Dr Bhatia were also recovered by the police.
During interrogation Kumar revealed that he got the idea of extorting money by watching a crime based television serial. He targeted Dr Bhatia as he knew him well as his wife once worked as his receptionist, police said.