Extortion racket busted, 4 held

The police today claimed to have foiled a conspiracy to extort money and arrested four suspects, all residents of Faridkot district. The police have recovered three petrol bombs from them.

According to the police, the accused were allegedly acting on the directions of gangster Deepu, who is currently residing abroad. The gang had planned to threaten a liquor vend owner by throwing petrol bombs at his vend.

The liquor vend owner had received ransom calls from foreign numbers about two months ago, demanding Rs 25 lakh.

On October 25, a similar petrol bomb attack had taken place outside a sanitary and bicycle shop owned by Dimple Bansal at Mari Mustafa village, Moga. In the case, the police had arrested three accused — Baljinder Singh, Vanspreet Singh and Arshdeep Singh, all residents of Faridkot.

Bagha Purana DSP Dalbir Singh said the police search led to the recovery of three beer bottles filled with petrol, prepared as petrol bombs, along with two motorcycles.

The arrested suspects have been identified as Rohit Kumar, Jagsir Singh, Khushpreet Singh and Sawan Singh.

The DSP said preliminary interrogation revealed the suspects were acting on the directions of their foreign-based handler Deepu, who allegedly instructed them to prepare petrol bombs and attack a liquor vend.