Rs 2-crore extortion call from Thailand foiled: 3 men held in Delhi for impersonating gangster Himanshu Bhau; London School of Economics (LSE) postgraduate among accused

NEW DELHI: Three friends, including a graduate from London School of Economics, were arrested for allegedly making a Rs 2-crore extortion call by impersonating well-known gangster Himanshu Bhau.

Police said the trio was in debt and devised the plot to repay it. They travelled to Thailand to buy international SIM cards, which they used to send the threats, hoping it would appear more convincing and help them evade law agencies, police said. The accused, identified as Sumit (42), Prince (35) and Nitish (31), were businessmen and residents of west Delhi.A businessman based in central Delhi filed a complaint claiming that he had received a threatening international WhatsApp call from an unknown number.

The caller, claiming to be Bhau, sent a QR code for a cryptocurrency payment of Rs 2 crore. He also threatened that the businessman's children would be killed if the demands were not met.

A case was registered, and deputy commissioner of police (central) Nidhin Valsan formed a team under ACP (Paharganj) Saurabh A Narender. Station house officer (cyber) Sandeep was part of it.

The technical team employed cyber tools to trace the origins of the international WhatsApp call and the QR code to Thailand.

"Once the suspects returned to India, they were immediately apprehended," the DCP said. "One of them, Nitish, holds a master's degree in a course related to software management from London School of Economics," he added. Two mobile phones used to generate the cryptocurrency QR code and make the call were also seized, Valsan said. All three accused told police that they were heavily in debt and plotted the call to pay it off in an easy way. Sumit, who runs a jewellery business, was well acquainted with the complainant and his family. To instil fear, they used Bhau's name. They devised the plot in India, said police."Sumit was in debt of around Rs 60 lakh, Nitish owed Rs 10-20 lakh and Prince had liabilities amounting to Rs 1-2 crore," an officer said. Nitish was involved in the tour and travel industry while Prince was engaged in the finance sector.