The accused revealed that the members of the extortion gang stay in Pakistan and Dubai.(File)
Four people having connections with a money extortion gang that operates from Pakistan and Dubai have been arrested, police said on Saturday.
The gang came to light after they extorted Rs 5 lakh from a property dealer.
On July 30, a property dealer filed a complaint, saying he was receiving threat calls from an unknown number on WhatsApp.
"Those on call demanded Rs 5 lakh and threatened to kill me and my family if I failed to do as they said," the complainant said.
Police said an First Information Report (FIR) was registered and an investigation into the matter was launched by the crime unit following which the four persons were arrested.
The accused have been identified as Ritik, Gulshan, Bunty Kumar, and Sandeep alias Sandy. 99 debit cards, 62 Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards and 23 mobiles and a bank passbook have been recovered from their possession, said police.
The accused revealed that the members of the extortion gang stay in Pakistan and Dubai and make calls to extort money.
Police said the gang members staying in Pakistan and Dubai cheat people online and extort money from them via threat calls. These four accused used to update their accomplices abroad about the account details and the day and time of the transaction.
They used to withdraw the amount the minute the transaction used to get completed, they said.
"The bank account in which the property dealer was asked to transfer money had also bought a person from Bihar by paying Rs 25,000 by the accused. They also have a passbook and debit card and an ID of that account and use net banking through mobile," said Preet Pal Singh Sangwan, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), crime.
"After transferring money in account they deduct their share of 10 per cent and rest money sent to their accomplices in Dubai and Pakistan through Hawala. The accused were active in these crimes from the last three months. Efforts are also being made to catch other accused in the case," ACP added.
Ritik and Gulshan arrested on August 13 were produced in the court on August 14 and taken on six days remand. The other two were arrested on Friday, said police.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)