Six persons held for extorting Rs 15 lakh from bizman

HYDERABAD: Six persons were arrested for posing as Task Force sleuths and extorting Rs 19 lakh from a businessman on Saturday, while four others, including two police constables, were declared absconding.

Deputy commissioner of police (North Zone) B Sumathi, according to an official release issued here, said three Telugu channel reporters U Praveen Kumar, S Deepak and P Suman, were arrested along with C Srinivas, B Karthik, G Anil Kumar. Constables M Yadagiri and M Sriinivas Reddy, who were attached to the Alwal police station, Bhanu and Shravan were declared absconding.

On Thursday, S Santosh, a resident of Bowenpally, was returning from Nizamabad carrying cash of Rs 19 lakh at the behest of his brother-in-law Mahesh. As Santosh was coming in his i10 car, Mahesh informed him that his business parter Anil would join him mdiway. Anil asked Santosh to wait for him near the

Alwal Rythu Bazar

.

“As Santosh was waiting for Anil in his car near the Rythu Bazar, some persons on bikes reached the location. Introducing themselves as Task Force personnel, they asked him to open the car boot. When Santosh did so, they found the cash and threatened to book criminal case if he did not follow them. One of the accused was acting as pilot vehicle, while the other followed the car,’’ the DCP said in the release.

According to her, the accused took Santosh to an isolated place at

Sai Baba

colony. Threatening to kill him, they took away the cash bag. During investigation, police discovered that Santosh’s business partner Anil was the mastermind behind the extortion and it was he who alerted Karthik about the movement of cash in the car. After Anil spilled the beans, the reporters-police nexus came to light. Police recovered Rs 15 lakh cash, a bike and a Santro from the possession of the culprits.