Three held for demanding Rs 20 lakh extortion in Delhi's Tilak Nagar

Three men were arrested for allegedly firing shots outside the house of a person from whom they demanded an extortion of Rs 20 lakh in west Delhi's Tilak Nagar, police said Sunday.

The arrested accused were identified as Gurpal (29), Jaspreet (38) and Banny Singh (24), they said. Banny Singh is a close friend of the complainant and he hatched the conspiracy to extort money from him, they added.

According to DCP (West) Monika Bharadwaj, the complainant Navdeep Singh, who runs a call centre, alleged that he received an extortion call demanding Rs 20 lakh. The accused further threatened him of dire consequences if he failed to pay them the amount.

It surfaced during investigation that the mobile number used to place the extortion call was issued in Odisha, the DCP said.

The call was made from near Tihar Jail and the said number was also operated in the Fatehabad region of Haryana, she said.

Subsequently, after questioning almost 60 suspects, Gurpal, who had allegedly fired outside Navdeep Singh's house, was arrested Saturday and on his instance, Jaspreet, who made the call, and Navdeep Singh's friend Banny Singh were also arrested, she added.

Police also recovered a mobile phone, one country-made pistol along with five live cartridges from the possession of the accused, she said.

During interrogation, the accused disclosed that Banny Singh hatched the conspiracy, the DCP said.

Jaspreet used a voice changing application and placed the extortion call and when Navdeep Singh did not pay the amount, Gurpal fired shots outside his house, she added.

Gurpal was previously involved in five cases while Jaspreet was wanted in three and Banny in one case, police said.