Gang extorting money from school-kids busted

Chandigarh Police today claimed to have busted an organised gang which used to extort money from children studying in leading schools here.
The accused identified as Rattan Labana, Amitoz Singh and Rajveer Singh of Mohali district, were arrested two days back.
The gang's modus operandi was to befriend students and lure them to movies and parties and to subsequently blackmail them and extort money from them, police said.
The gang members would post photographs of themselves over the social networking sites with luxury cars and other vehicles "to entice youngsters by alluring them with their patronage and assuring them that no one would dare to touch them so long as they were under their protection", they said.

"But soon this would lead to demands for money and goods from the minor children. They had also gone to the houses of students and forced them to steal liquor from their homes and provide it to them. They used to go around in various types of vehicles and have posted pictures of themselves with luxury cars, and one of them, even with a weapon," police said in a statement here.
Police said the accused had also been abusing and threatening the school children on Facebook, over mobile phones and when the students were on the way from school to their houses.