Entrepreneurs doing business in the country’s capital, Delhi, have received around 160 calls seeking extortion until October this year, which is an average of one call every two days. Most of the calls have been made by foreign gangsters or their agents using Voice over Internet Protocol or international telephone numbers. According to sources, most of the calls come from builders and real estate dealers, jewelers and owners of sweet shops and automobile showrooms.
Till October this year, around 160 reports of extortion calls from businessmen in Delhi have been received. In some cases, the call was followed by gunshots outside the targeted person’s home or office, a source said. Last week, seven such cases were reported in just four days, in which gangsters attacked a jeweler, the owner of a gym, a real estate dealer, the owner of a candy store and the owner of a car workshop .
Similarly, on November 5, due to a similar incident in Rohini, three people came out of a showroom and then entered and fired shots in the air. They also left an extortion letter at the scene with the names of the criminals and the amount written on it. It was written in that letter: Yogesh Dahiya, Fajje Bhai, Monty Maan and 10 million rupees.
In a similar case on November 7, a call was made from an international number demanding Rs 7 million from the owner of a gym in Nangloi. The caller claimed to be related to jailed gangster Deepak Boxer, an associate of Lawrence Bishnoi. A police officer told PTI that FIRs have been registered in all the seven cases and different teams of the Special Cells and Crime Division are working to nab the criminals.
According to Delhi Police data accessed by PTI, a total of 133 cases of extortion were reported in the national capital till August 15 this year. According to the data, a total of 141 such cases were reported during the same period last year and the figure for 2022 was 110.
The police said that 204 cases of extortion of people were reported in the year 2023 and 187 cases in 2022. A police officer dealing with these cases stated that the callers mainly use VoIP numbers or WhatsApp numbers taken on cards Fake SIMs.
Sources said police have identified 11 gangs involved in extortion as well as shootings and murders in the National Capital Region in recent months. These gangs include Lawrence Bishnoi-Goldy Brar, Himanshu Bhau, Kapil Sangwan alias Nandu, Jitendra Gogi-Sampat Nehra, Hashim Baba, Sunil Tillu, Kaushal Chaudhary, Neeraj Faridpuria and Neeraj Bawana. Police said except Gogi and Tillu, who died in the gang war, most of these gangsters are behind bars or hiding abroad.
