Man uses name of gangster for extortion, held

NEW DELHI: Mukesh Tiwari, 42, went bankrupt after the pandemic. After all efforts to stand back on his feet failed, he decided to take to crime. With ample free time on hand, Tiwari used to chat with random people online and had made friends with a Pakistani man who went by the name of "Khan".
Khan allegedly advised him to extort money from wealthy people using a local gangster's name and use a Pakistani virtual number to not get caught.Tiwari made up his mind and chose his first target as a businessman from Greater Kailash-I where he had worked as a driver 12 years ago. He checked his phone book and found details of the businessman and his family members. He then made the call demanding Rs 15 lakh from the target and posed as a member of jailed gangster Neeraj Bawana.
On August 1, police received a complaint from the businessman. Accordingly, a case was registered and investigation taken up by a team led by inspector Umesh Yadav. The investigators used technical apparatus to track the details of the mobile device from which the extortion calls were made, and the same WhatsApp number was found to be connected to a different number in Delhi. The details of the number were collected and the location was zeroed down at Rohini.
The team then conducted a raid and apprehended the accused who was identified as Mukesh Tiwari. A mobile phone with call recordings of extortion calls and two SIM cards were recovered from him. He has been sent to judicial custody, police said.