Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Jul 27: The Kamothe police in Navi Mumbai have booked two minors and their accomplice for extorting money and valuables worth Rs 3 lac from a 15-year-old.

The two accused are students of class IX of an English medium school in Kamothe. They used to threaten their classmate that if he does not give them money, they will kill him and his family. A cousin of one of the accused students, used to support the two in extortion. The cousin who is not a minor, claimed to know goons who can easily murder people.

The extortion racket came into light on July 21. The victim was taken to Kalamboli hospital for check-up, as he had lost a lot of weight. It is here one of the accused students called and questioned "Kaam ho gaya kya?" However, it was the mother who picked up the call. When she questioned who was calling, the caller introduced himself as her son's friend.

When the mother asked her son about the friend, he became restless. On July 22, the victim's father who runs a transport business saw cash he had kept for medical and insurance purpose was missing. When he questioned his son, he claimed to have spent it all on snacks. The father to check the son's version, took him to the shop he claimed to have purchased snacks from. However, the shopkeeper denied.

When the father threatened to punish him for telling lies, the boy confided his ordeal with his mother. The boy's father then approached the school principal. When the parents of the accused boys were called, they started threatening the victim's father. The father then approached the Kamothe police and filed a complaint against his son's two classmates and their cousin on July 23.

The boy told police that from January 2018 to June 2019, the two students and their cousin extorted Rs 2.5 lac in cash, a gold chain and a mobile phone Rs 10,000. However their demands never stopped and in July, they extorted Rs 70,000 is cash. While the two accused students used to threaten the boy, their cousin used to collect the money and valuables. He had visited the victim two times near his house for money.

The accused minors have been booked under IPC's sections 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous injury) and 34 (involvement of number of persons with common intention).