Four "extortionists" posing as scribes land in police net

They next took photographs of his shop and said that these would be flashed in newspapers and on television, thereby damaging his business. The four allegedly demanded Rs 5 lakh from Gupta. He managed to cough up Rs 10,000. From the following day onward Gupta started receiving regular phonecalls from the `journalists’. The woman would identify herself as Kamal Kant, and asked him to deliver the balance amount at her house in D-34, Pandav Nagar. She gave him a telephone number and asked him to call whenever the cash had been arranged.

Gupta didn’t call her. On January 24, the woman and two associates landed up at Gupta’s East Jyoti Nagar home at 8.15 a.m., but he refused to open the door. The three allegedly told him that they would call the Police Control Room (PCR) if he didn’t co-operate. However, when no policemen reached his house, Gupta began to doubt the credentials of the `journalists’.

Gupta next called PCR himself. Before the police arrived the three called him on a cellular phone, directing him to hand over the money to them at Shahpur Chowk. The police laid a trap there and Vijay Kumar Sharma and Raman Kumar were arrested. Through their disclosure statements the police managed to nab two more men Mritunjay Kumar Pandey (an MA in political science) and Ajay Kumar Pandey (a BAMS doctor). The police are now looking for the women.