The Delhi Police arrested a 22-year-old man, Vineet Pandey, on Saturday for allegedly attempting to extort ₹1 crore from a businessman. According to police, Pandey threatened to kill the businessman’s family members if the large sum was not paid.
On July 10, a jewellery shop owner in Karol Bagh’s Kingsway Camp reported to the police that his son received a call the previous day from two unknown numbers demanding ₹1 crore. Following the call, the businessman promptly approached the police, leading to the filing of a case under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Section 308(4) for committing extortion by instilling fear of death or serious injury at the Ashok Vihar police station in Northwest Delhi.
The investigative team discovered that the phone numbers used to make the calls featured display pictures of gangsters currently in jail. Despite interrogating the shop’s employees, former staff, and outsourced workers, the police found no leads. The phone numbers were also switched off, making it impossible to trace the caller’s address. However, authorities determined that the call originated from Punjab.
Police detained Pandey in Akhada near Ludhiana, where he had been working as an agricultural laborer. During interrogation, he revealed that he was originally from Bara Banki in Uttar Pradesh and had come to Delhi for work. Before going to Punjab three months ago, he worked in a hardware shop in Chawri Bazar.