Ahmedabad: Constable, woman aide held for extortion bid

“A few days ago, the complainant approached special commissioner Ajay Tomar stating that he received a WhatsApp message and a phone call where an unknown person claimed to have been in possession of some obscene pictures of his daughter and demanded Rs 15 lakh from him. A probe was launched jointly by Crime Branch and Cyber Crime Cell who found that Dashrathsinh Parmar and his friend Rupal hatched the extortion plan as they were in need of money. Both the accused have been detained and are being tested for coronavirus,” said BV Gohil, assistant commissioner of police, DCB.

The accused have been detained under Indian Penal Code sections 384 (extortion) 507 (criminal intimidation by anonymous means) and 34 (act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).

According to police, they first tried to track the phone number details through which the extortion call was made. Investigation revealed that the number belonged to a migrant worker who was staying in his village in Uttar Pradesh till May 15. However, the person informed police that he left his ph one at Odhav police station on April 8.

“Dashrath used the same phone to make the call. We recorded the audio of extortion call and upon matching it with the accused, he was further interrogated after which he confessed,” said a police officer.