4 held for hatching plan to extort money from jeweller

Mathura: Four persons have been arrested for hatching a conspiracy to extort money from a jeweller here, the police said today.

According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vinod Kumar Mishra, four persons, including a jeweller, were arrested in connection with the case and a mobile phone was seized from their possession.

He said Bhupendra alias Bobby, a resident of Narayanpuri Dhauli and a jeweller by profession, had hatched a plan to extort Rs 15 lakh from another jeweller with his associates — Suraj alias Raja and Subham alias Sonu.

The accused approached Prasant, a mobile shop owner, for a SIM card which was registered in the name of another person.

Prasant was promised a “handsome amount” for the “favour”, the SSP added.

Prasant gave a SIM card to the accused which was earlier registered in the name of one Lal Chand, a resident of Kodai under the Baskhari police station in Ambedkar Nagar district.

The accused used the SIM card to call and send text messages to jeweller Saurabh Agrawal, a resident of Dhauli Piau, asking him to pay an amount of Rs 15 lakh, Mishra said, adding that they claimed to be members of the notorious Ranga gang.

A case was lodged at the Kotwali police station on the basis of a complaint from Agrawal, said the SSP, adding that the probe revealed the chain of events and the three accused and the mobile shop owner were placed under arrest.

—PTI