26-year-old man arrested for extortion bid via WhatsApp

JAIPUR: The 26-year-old Hussain Mohammad, who sent WhatsApp messages to 28

MLAs

asking for Rs 60 lakh believed at least one of them would take his

threat

seriously and make him rich. He Googled the profiles of the MLAs to get their personal numbers in order to text and threaten them and extort money from them. This was revealed by the Manak Chowk police on Monday after they arrested the accused. Police produced him in court from where his custody was taken by the Barmer police.

According to police, at least 28 MLAs across the state got a WhatsApp message in which they were asked to deposit Rs 60 lakh to a hotel situated in Ajmer else get ready to face dire consequences.

“Sawai Madhopur MLA Diya Kumari approached the Manak Chowk police and also urged senior authorities to intervene since she too was among the 28 MLAs who got these messages. Acting on the complaint we traced the accused and nabbed him from a hotel in Ajmer. Since no FIR was lodged in this connection in Jaipur we arrested him for disturbing peace and produced him in court,” said Nemi Chand, station house officer, Manak Chowk police station.

Asked if the accused did all this for fun or if he was serious to extort the MLAs, Nemi said, “He searched Google religiously for months from where he got the uploaded profiles of the MLAs randomly. After getting mobile numbers he sent 28 of them a message in which he asked them to deposit Rs 60 lakh to one Ruby in Ajmer.”

According to police, the MLA who got these messages included Anit Badhel BJP MLA from Ajmer south, Kailash Verma BJP MLA from Bagru, Nand Kishor Meharia, independent MLA from Fatehpur and others.

The accused Hussain in the text messages to the MLAs had stated, “I have got a contract to kill you. Send me Rs 60 lakh to the mentioned address, if you wish to save your life. Otherwise, you will not be able to enjoy this year’s Diwali and elections”. He had given the address of a sweet shop near Dargah Bazaar in Ajmer and asked the MLAs to give the money to a woman named Ruby Sheikh. “It was also found that Ruby is his wife and is into cleaning utensils at a hotel in Ajmer,” said an officer. He said that after receiving the money he would tell them the identity of the person who wanted to kill them.

“Majority of the MLAs did not take the threat seriously except Chohatan MLA Tarun Rai Kaga who had lodged a case. Thus, Barmer police took the custody of the accused from the court for further investigations,” said an officer.