The Tribune, January 9, 2001
Extortion cases up in Haryana
From Raman Mohan
HISAR, Jan 8 - Criminals in Haryana have taken a fancy to extortion sending shock waves in the business community.
Reports from different parts of the state indicate that several businessmen, big and small, have, of late, been receiving threats to their lives in the event of their failure to pay ransom. In Hisar alone, at least six businessmen have received such threats in the past two weeks.
Surprisingly, the threats came in the form of letters. While none of them has paid up as yet the police is still groping in the dark about the identity of the person who had sent letters to owners of chosen firms operating from the local Grain Market.
A doctor based at Barwala near here has also been asked to pay a ransom of Rs 2 lakh. He has been threatened with death if he failed to pay up. The doctor has, however, reported the matter to the police. He has been provided security.
The threat to the doctor is being taken very seriously since it has come from a notorious criminal Subhash Fauji Fauji has been evading the police for the past several months although his name figures on top of the most wanted criminals list.
Fauji, an Army deserter has let lose a reign of terror in the area through extortion demands and his involvement in a large number of cases of murder and dacoity. He was arrested by the police a few months ago from Balsamand village but was freed by a mob, which ransacked the police post. He has since been active in the area,
Inquiries from other parts of the state also indicate that there has been a sudden spurt in cases of extortion. Thus far this kind of crime was limited mainly to Faridabad and Gurgaon because of the involvement of Delhi and Noida based criminals. However, petty criminals all over the state have now taken to extortion because it is considered as the safest crime with high returns.
A senior police officer said extortion was assuming menacing proportions because it involved minimal violence as a majority of the victims chose to pay up rather than risk their lives by informing the police. Besides, he said, the criminals operated under a cloak of secrecy and anonymity thereby reducing their chances of getting caught substantially.
He said extortionists were mostly notorious criminals having links with bigger gangs based in metropolitan cities. They used their notoriety to force their victims to compliance. However, to maintain fear in the minds of the victims, these criminals could go to any extent, including murder.
Commenting on the recent spurt in this kind of crime, he said, criminals who were active during prohibition had now taken to extortion. They had earned a clout and had developed links with hardcore criminals based in Delhi. Besides, a number of criminals recruited by the Chhota Rajan gang from Haryana recently had been helping their accomplices back in their home state logistically.
It is learnt that many of the extortionists belong to Jind district, which of late had acquired the dubious distinction of being the nursery of criminals in Haryana. Several criminals hailing from the district have now bases in Delhi and they operate through their junior gang members in different parts of Haryana.
|
