Gautam Buddha Nagar, October 4: The Noida unit of the Uttar Pradesh Special task Force (STF) arrested Rajiv Sharma, an absconding accused in the case of extortion by filing false complaints against businessmen of Delhi-NCR, on Friday. His three accomplices were arrested on Tuesday and sent to jail. Rajiv, a resident of Sector-12, Noida, was arrested from a hotel in Paharganj, Delhi.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) STF Rajkumar Mishra said that recently information was received about a gang active in Delhi-NCR, which targets businessmen and files false complaints against them in various departments. They then get news broadcast based on the complaints. This is done to harass businessmen and tarnish their image. Crores of rupees in extortion money is demanded from businessmen in the name of providing relief. After gathering complete information, the team recently arrested Ankur Gupta, a resident of Daryaganj, Delhi, Harnam Dhawan, a resident of Sarai Rohilla, and Narendra Dhawan, a resident of Shastri Nagar. Interrogating the three revealed that another associate, Rajiv Sharma, was also involved in the gang and played an equal role in the extortion.
ASP STF further informed that the STF team received information about the location of the wanted accused, Rajiv on Friday. Following this, they surrounded and arrested him. His mobile phone is now in police custody. During interrogation, he provided valuable information to the team, including the names of some of his other associates. The team is now attempting to arrest the other accused. Rajiv and his associates have so far extorted money from more than 20 builders and businessmen. Recently, the accused demanded โน15 crore from a builder. When the builder expressed his inability to pay that amount, they settled for โน5 crore. Under pressure, the builder paid some of the money.
He added that a case has also been lodged in this regard at the Indirapuram police station in Ghaziabad. The accused had targeted The Amaryal being built by Unity Group in Karol Bagh, Shipra and Saya Builders in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad and Harmony Builders in Indirapuram. The accused filed baseless complaints against the projects of the identified builders in GDA, RERA, ED, EOW and Income Tax and other departments and were demanding extortion on the basis of this. Not only this, the accused also filed complaints against some individual houses and shops and extorted money from their owners.