 "Teen posing as Jay Shah tries to extort Rs 5 lakh from BJP MLA, arrested")
A teenager allegedly posed as Jay Shah, the former chief of India’s cricket board and the son of Home Minister Amit Shah, and attempted to extort Rs 5 lakh from BJP MLA Adesh Chauhan of Haridwar’s Ranipur constituency over the phone, news agency PTI reported.
Incident details
On Sunday evening, Chauhan received a call from an unknown number. The caller identified himself as Jay Shah, who is now chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC), and requested Rs 5 lakh as donation for the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Chauhan grew suspicious and questioned the caller, who then cussed and threatened him. The caller warned that if the demand was not met, he would tarnish the MLA’s reputation on social media.
Chauhan’s public relations officer, Romish Kumar, filed a complaint at Bahadrabad police station. The authorities registered a case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and launched an investigation to locate the suspect.
Arrests made
Haridwar Senior Superintendent of Police Pramod Singh Dobal said that three individuals were arrested in connection with the case. Priyanshu Pant, 19, who made the extortion call, was arrested in Delhi, while Uvesh Ahmed, who collaborated with Pant, was arrested in Rudrapur. Additionally, Dobal further said that the search is ongoing for Gaurav Nath, another suspect in the case.
Dobal said that this was not the first time the accused were involved in such crimes. Previously, they had attempted to extort money from two Uttarakhand legislators — Nainital MLA Sarita Arya and Rudrapur MLA Shiv Arora — by falsely promising them ministerial positions.
How the police tracked the accused
According to Dobal, investigators traced the suspects using call detail records (CDR), IMEI numbers, and location tracking. Based on their findings, raids were conducted in Ghaziabad and Delhi, leading to Pant’s arrest in Delhi along with the mobile phone used in the crime.
(With agency inputs)