Extortion rackets busted in Ahmedabad, including a tea salesman and a laundryman, and BMWs were seized. Police in Ahmedabad have detained them as they were allegedly running a thriving extortion racket and had accumulated enough cash to acquire a BMW car.
A desire to make quick money, drive in fancy cars, utilise high-end mobile phones, and display their status drove tea vendor Arif Ghanchi, 27, and laundry guy Yusuf Ghanchi, 37, to blackmail and extort money from businesspeople in order to fund their luxurious lifestyle.
“The Sarkhej police arrested them on Tuesday, seized the car, and got a five-day remand of the two in connection with the extortion crime registered against them,” DCP Zone 7, Premsukh Delu, said IANS.
“One of the victims of this duo, a businessman in the Sarkhej region, filed a police complaint alleging that a duo was extorting money from him and that they had so far extracted more than Rs 31 lakh from him. An offence was registered after checking all of his evidence. We are currently investigating whether any further victims were misled and have invited them to come forward and submit a complaint “He continued.
“Yusuf runs a laundry and Arif runs a roadside tea stall. With such profiles, it is unlikely that they could buy such a high-end car. The tea stall and the laundry were just front to carry out their misdeeds,” Delu said.
According to the police, the duo would acquire information about industrial unit owners and blackmail them by threatening to have their licences terminated by filing a complaint with the appropriate authorities.
“After collecting that money, they would approach the victims and claim to have influential contacts who could help them rectify the flaws. They would both extract more money as a result of this “Delu added.
They used this strategy to extort money from the Sarkhej businessman until he had had enough and approached the police, among others.
The accused had even filed an application at Sarkhej police station to blackmail a potential victim.
“Both have an application in Sarkhej police station for attempting suicide by poisoning themselves. They would threaten to implicate them in the suicide application case if the victims stopped paying them “Delu added.