Couple arrested for extortion

kolkata : the recent spate of abductions and extortion attempts are giving ideas to young people in kolkata. on monday, a couple were arrested when they tried to extort money from deputy superintendent of police (town), patna. kolkata police deputy commissioner detective department somen mitra said pinky chowdhury, 17, resident of kankarbagh in patna and daughter of dsp jagdish chowdhury was missing for the last 3 months.everybody suspected that it was a case of abduction after all efforts to trace her failed. a week ago, chowdhury received a call at his residence from kolkata who demanded rs 3 lakh to part with information about his daughter. the caller asked the dsp to come to kolkata, purchase a sim card and inform his family in patna about the number. the caller would in turn pick up the cell phone number from patna. chowdhury arrived in kolkata on sunday and did as he was told. soon he received a call on his cell phone, asking him to take the money to a shop at the crossing of vip road and ultadanga at 1 pm on monday. police accompanied chowdhury to the rendezvous. however, at the venue, the dsp was again contacted over his cell phone and asked to wait at nalban in salt lake at 3 pm. chowdhury and the police team rushed to nalban. at around 3.15 pm, another call was received by chowdhury. the caller said that he (chowdhury) had brought along a large number of people and asked him to go to a shop at kankurgachhi, this time alone. outside the shop in kankurgachhi, sleuths noticed a couple on a motorcycle. the two were also present at nalban. a policeman overheard them discussing that the place was too crowded to pull off the heist. they were about to make their getaway when they were nabbed. the duo were identified as minakshi jaiswal (23), resident of 1, singhi dutta lane in burrabazar and sheikh raju (25) of ganesh talkies, in the same area. the two admitted they wanted money to marry on. they told police that pinky had eloped to dehra doon and had stopped at kolkata. while in kolkata, pinky had put up as a paying guest at baguiati, a flat owned by raju. while she was staying in the city, raju got her residential number in patna. after leaving for dehra doon, pinky had called up raju.