Man arrested 5 yrs after trying to extort ₹15 lakh from businessman

A 36-year-old man, who tried to extort ₹15 lakh from a businessman and was on the run since 2015, has been arrested from Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur district, police said on Saturday (September 12).

Vishnu had threatened businessman Pranab Seth that he would blow up his marriage pandal if he failed to pay the ₹15 lakh, they said. Police said that Vishnu was declared a proclaimed offender in the case by a Delhi court in 2015.

He was arrested from his village in Rampur district on September 4 and police used technical surveillance to trace him, they said.

Seth, a resident of Roop Nagar, in his complaint in 2015 had said that he owns a marriage pandal near Wave Cinema, a senior police officer said. In his complaint, the businessman had said the accused had threatened that if the extortion money of ₹15 lakh was not paid, he would blow up his pandal, he said.

Police had registered a case under Indian Penal Code Sections 384 (punishment for extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

The case was registered at the Rajouri Garden Police Station.