The accusedd confessed that he and his associate had planned to extort Rs 1 crore during questioning
A 35-year-old man was arrested for allegedly posing as a gangster and trying to extort Rs 1 crore from a businessman by threatening to kill him, police said.
The police had received a complaint from a businessman who claimed to be receiving extortion calls from an unknown number. He said that the caller identified himself as Pradeep Solanki, a gangster of the Najafgarh area, and threatened to kill him if he did not pay the ransom amount within seven days, they said.
The accused has been identified as Vikas Mehta, a resident of Mohan Garden, a senior police official said.
An FIR was registered and police swung into action to trace the accused,
As the caller had identified himself as Pradeep Solanki, who is in Faridabad jail, activities of his associates was tracked to develop clues and several persons were interrogated, the official said.
During the exercise, they also went through the record of visitors who visited Solanki in the prison which revealed that the accused, along with another man, frequently visited him, he said.
Further probe revealed that both the men influenced people in their area in the name of their friendship with Solanki.
On Tuesday, police received a tip-off about Mehta coming near Dwarka Mor metro station to meet someone. They laid a trap and arrested him, the official said.
During questioning, it was ascertained that the mobile phone in his possession was used in calling the complainant.
Though Mehta initially tried to mislead the investigation, he later broke down and confessed that he, along with his associate, had planned to extort Rs 1 crore and divide the money, police said.