New Delhi: Taking an apparent inspiration from popular Bollywood movie ‘Special 26’, a gang of nine sent forged Enforcement Directorate summons for allegedly extorting around Rs 20 crore from a Mumbai-based businessman, Delhi police said on Thursday, adding, all accused arrested.
Ravindra Singh Yadav, Special Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch), said the accused sent two such forged notices to Hardev Singh, president of Nippon India Paints Ltd, and convinced him that the federal agency had registered a case against him, as reported by news agency PTI.
The accused, further, threatened the businessman that he was going to be in deep trouble and claimed they could sort the whole thing out through a liaison in the ED’s Delhi office, the official added.
The accused then sent more such fake notices and demanded Rs 2-3 crore at first and also asked to meet in Delhi.
On November 11, the victim tried to negotiate with the accused to reduce the amount but was asked to meet in person to settle the issue, he said.
The next day, Singh met two of the accused at the Mumbai airport and was told that the ED had detected alleged illegal properties worth thousands of crores but the issue could be settled for just a few crores. They asked Singh to pay for their flights to Delhi, as well as stay, so that they could sort everything out, the official added, as reported by PTI.
The businessman booked their flights and set up a meeting at a posh hotel in Delhi but the accused suddenly upped their demand to Rs 20 crore for negotiating and settling the case.
Following this, Singh went to police and a case was registered, official said, adding that the two of the accused were arrested from the hotel itself.
“During interrogation, they disclosed that three of their associates were present in a room at the same hotel,” the official said. The police arrested them and then subsequent arrests were made, he added.
The whole conspiracy was planned meticulously, and every role was preciously defined and enacted, the police said, adding that 12 mobile phones and a car have been seized.
With inputs from PTI
