Bigg Boss OTT winner Elvish Yadav receives extortion demand of Rs 1 cr; man arrested from Gujarat
Gurugram (PTI): A man was arrested from Gujarat's Vadnagar for allegedly trying to extort Rs 1 crore from YouTuber Elvish Yadav, police said on Thursday. Yadav is also the winner of Bigg Boss OTT, season 2.
Influenced by Yadav's lifestyle, the accused sent threats on WhatsApp to earn quick money, police said.
The accused has been identified as 24-year-old Shakir Makrani, a native of Gujarat's Vadnagar, they said.
Makrani worked as an Regional Transport Office (RTO) agent along with his father in Vadnagar.
"The accused wanted to become a millionaire soon. For this, he had demanded an extortion of initially Rs 40 lakh and then Rs 1 crore from Elvish Yadav and his manager through texts on WhatsApp," said Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Varun Dahiya.
"He is being brought to Gurugram on a transit remand to find out whether he made this call on anyone's instructions, and if anyone else is involved in the extortion demand along with him," he added.
Yadav, a resident of Gurugram, lodged a complaint at Sector 53 police station on Wednesday after returning from a foreign trip.
An FIR was registered under relevant sections of the IPC on Wednesday following the complaint, an officer said. During investigation, it was found that the number used for sending WhatsApp messages to Yadav was being operated from Gujarat.
"Full cooperation was received from Gujarat Police. A team of Sector 40 crime unit arrested accused Sakir Makrani from Vadnagar, Gujarat, on Wednesday night. We will question Makrani after taking him on police remand," said Dahiya.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
