Gurugram: The Faridabad police said they have arrested a 25-year-old man for blackmail and attempted extortion, after he threatened to kill a city resident’s son if he was not paid ₹5 lakh in Bitcoin (a popular cryptocurrency).
Ashok Kumar, a resident of Faridabad, told the police that he had received threatening calls, texts, and emails demanding ₹5 lakh, in exchange for his son’s safety.
“We formed a team of the Sector 48 crime unit, and the investigation was handed over to sub-inspector Rakesh Singh Sehrawat,” said Narender Kadian, deputy commissioner of police (crime).
A case under sections 384 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation), 419 (cheating by personation),420 (fraud), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged document),120B (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered on May 13.
Kumar received an email on May 10, asking him to transfer ₹5 lakh to a cryptocurrency wallet within 24 hours, failing which his son will be killed.
“They threatened that if I did not transfer the money, they would shoot my son in a moving vehicle. They also threatened with kidnapping, in the event of which a ransom of ₹1 crore had to be paid, without any surety of my son’s safety. They told me to transfer ₹5 lakh in Bitcoin to their cryptocurrency account,” he said.
According to Kadian, police teams questioned more than 50 people. Based on technical and human intelligence, they arrested Sandeep Kumar, one of the extortionists, who hailed from Bihar.
“Sandeep ran a photocopy shop in Ghaziabad between 2013 and 2022. He used to forge identity cards and issued SIM cards against them. He was arrested in 2020 and 2021, and spent a few months behind bars,” Kadian said.
Sandeep confessed to the crime during questioning. “He wanted to become rich overnight and didn’t want to work. He used to daydream and planned to extort money by threatening businessmen in Faridabad, Palwal and Gurugram,” Kadian added.
“Sandeep got a new SIM card with an Aadhaar card provided by his accomplice Ankit. The SIM was used to demand ransom in the case,” Sehrawat said.
Police are now trying to nab Sandeep’s associate Ankit. “The accused has been produced in the court and sent to 14-days judicial custody. The other accused involved in the case will also be arrested soon,” Sehrawat added.