'Tantric' extortioners busted

A trio has been arrested here for allegedly running an extortion racket for which one of the accused would masquerade as a 'tantric' with occult powers and threaten people with dire consequences unless they paid up.
The accused have been identified as Pawan Kumar Pandey (31), Shesh Narayan Dubey alias 'Tyagi Baba' (32) and Sunil Kumar Pandey (32), all residents of Ghaziabad, said police.
The activities of the gang came to light on Tuesday when a Lajpat Nagar resident approached police with a complaint that she was being victimised by the trio.
According to police, the woman claimed that it was on September 7 that she received an SMS from the gang saying solutions were at hand for all her problems.

When she met the tantric 'Tyagi Baba', he is alleged to have told her that he could foresee the death of someone close to her. He further assured her that such an occurrence could be averted through a ritual, which needs to be performed by a 100-year-old tantric in Ayodhya who was known to the gang, said police.
But, thereafter, they told the complainant that the tantric in Ayodha had suffered a cardiac arrest while performing the ritual and that she was to be blamed for "bad omen".

They then asked her to pay up Rs 12 lakh for keeping mum, which the complainant said she paid, police added.

But the trio kept asking for more money and the woman finally reported the matter to police.
On Tuesday, police laid a trap and called the gang for collecting money from the complainant and it was Sunil who turned up and was the first to be arrested.
Following his interrogation, the remaining two accused were rounded up, police said.
The gang operated through a small-time call centre which they had set up at Ghaziabad and used to dupe people randomly using fake names, said police.
The accused have been booked for cheating, extortion and criminal intimidation, police said, adding that they are trying to track any others that may have been targeted by the gang.

Three laptops, one computer, several handsets, letterheads and Rs 5,000 cash were recovered from the gang members' possession, police said.