‘Close aide’ of minister held in Rs 30 lakh extortion case

What could be termed as a major development in an extortion case in which some unknown callers had demanded Rs 30 lakh from a city businessman, Rajiv Raja, former Youth Congress, city unit, president was arrested today by Police Division No. 8 in the case on the charge of hatching the conspiracy.

Advertisement

Rajiv Raja was once a very active leader in the Congress and was said to be a close aide of Ravneet Bittu, Minister of State for Railways. He would often post photographs with the minister on his social media accounts and even during parliamentary poll, he was actively took part in the political campaign .His arrest in the case may bring turmoil in the political circle in Ludhiana.

On February 7, the Ludhiana police had registered a case on the complaint of a businessman and resident of Mall Enclave Ravish Gupta. As per the complainant, he had been getting extortion calls from some foreign numbers and the callers were demanding Rs 30 lakh or else they would kill him and his family. Gupta had also alleged that the callers were aware about his daily routine, his family members and all his social activities. He had even suspected that some local person who knew him well could be involved in the conspiracy.

A senior police official requesting anonymity while confirming the development to Ludhiana Tribune said after the registration of the case, the police had arrested three accused. During their questioning, they took the name of Raja as the key conspirator. They admitted that, “We had made extortion calls to the businessman Ravish Gupta at the behest of Rajiv Raja.”

On this basis of the statement, the police arrested Raja in the case. He would be produced in the court tomorrow.

Police officials said questioning of Raja would be conducted after procuring his police remand. The police would also verify if he had any old enmity with the businessman.