MUMBAI: Four men were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly posing as members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and attempting to extort ₹4 lakh from a jeweller by threatening to kill him “like Baba Siddique”.
The victim received multiple calls between February 18 and February 24 demanding ₹30 lakh, which was reduced to ₹4 lakh after negotiations. The victim then approached the police, who registered an FIR against unidentified persons and laid a trap to apprehend them.
On police instructions, the jeweller told the caller he would give gold coins instead of cash. The accused agreed and sent an accomplice to Mahim railway station to collect the coins.
One accused, Riyazuddin Mohammad Bashir, 29, was caught at the railway station when he arrived to collect the ransom. Based on his interrogation, police arrested three other accomplices: Mohammad Faiyaz Mohammad Qayyum Mansuri alias Saddam, 27, Mohammad Ashraful Qadri Mohammad Hasim Ansari, 36, and Mohammad Arbaaz Ansari Mohammad Izhar Ansari, 27, from Bandra and Jogeshwari West.
Police said the accused are unemployed and hail from Jharkhand. The accused are allegedly linked to a similar extortion case in Vile Parle two weeks ago, where a man arrested from Jharkhand allegedly posed as the same gangster to extort money from a local jeweller.
Police are also probing whether the accused have any direct links to the Bishnoi gang. “The seized mobile phone has been sent for forensic analysis to find out whether other ransom calls were made,” said an officer.