Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (EP)
Kundapur, Apr 12: Kundapur police on Thursday April 12 arrested four persons for allegedly threatening a businnessman in the guise of journalists and extorting money from him.
The accused allegedly threatened the businessman saying that they would publish his misdeeds in the newspaper if he did not hand over Rs one lac to them.
The accused, identified as Manjunath, Lokesh, Dharmendra and Vikram alias Vicky had come in a Maruti 800 car to F M Plastic waste plastic cutting and hydraulic pressing unit run by Farook at Koteshwar on April 9. Farook also happens to be a scrap dealer. The 'journalists' took advantage of the fact that he obtained used saline (glucose) bottles from hospitals in order to blackmail him, it is said.
L to R: Dharmendra, Lokesh and Manjunath
They said that they were from the press and conducting 'raid' on his premises. They told him he should not buy used glucose bottles and told him to throw them away. They also told him that if officials came to know about it, they would impose a penalty of Rs 5 lac on him. "If we inform the officials, they will pay us Rs 1 lac. Instead, you pay us Rs 1 lac to close the matter," they allegedly told Farook, giving him two days to pay the money or face the wrath from 'officials'.
On April 12, one among the accused called Farook on the phone to ask where and when they should come to collect the money.
Three men them came in a car and told Farook to pay them the money, and that they could not wait any longer. Farook however told them he would follow the law and refused to pay. Growing angry at this, two of the men caught hold of Farook and another snatched Rs 5,000 that was in his shirt pocket. While leaving, they threatened to damage his reputation.
Farook immediately registered a complaint in Kundapur police station stating that the men who forcibly held him were Dharmendra and Manjunath and the one who snatched money from his pocket was Lokesh. Farook also stated in the complaint that Vikky alias Vikram had also come with the three men.
Kundapur sub-inspector registered the case under IPC 384, 394, 506 and 34. Police swung into action and arrested the accused. They have been sent to judicial custody.