Patna: Panic has gripped the family of a ruling party lawmaker in Bihar after alleged gangsters sought an extortion amount of Rs15 million (Dh822,969). The lawmaker’s family has registered a case with local police.
As per the complaint lodged with the police, the alleged gangsters recently called up Dr Sanjeev Kumar, son of a Janata Dal United (JD-U) lawmaker Ramanand Prasad Singh, and sought Rs15 million. The criminals also threatened to kill him if he fails to oblige.
“I got repeated calls over the last week during which the callers asked me to pay Rs15 million or be ready to face dire consequences,” Kumar wrote in his complaint with the local police. The victim, who runs his private clinic Maxlife Diagnostic and Research Centre, stays with his family in Lohianagar locality of Patna, the capital of Bihar state.
According to the complainant, the caller warned him against reporting the matter to the police and threatened to kill if he failed to pay the money soon. The incident has left the family in a state of shock.
Last year, some gangsters had served an extortion letter to another prominent medical practitioner, Dr Ajit Kumar Singh, seeking Rs5 million. The criminals had also placed a live cartridge inside the envelope so as to cause panic, warning that similar bullets would be pumped into his body if he failed to pay the money. A year after the incident, the police are yet to get near the criminals.
In another related incident, criminals have sought a ransom of Rs7 million in exchange for the release of a Grade 8 schoolboy Sujit Bharati aged 14. The victim was kidnapped from West Champaran district of Bihar while he was going to school. This matter too is being investigated by the police.
Yet another schoolgirl was kidnapped for ransom from Gopalganj district on February 14 while returning home from school. The kidnappers had sought a ransom of Rs10 million in lieu of her safe release but the police in a swift action recovered her within five hours of her kidnapping and handed her over to parents.
According to a report compiled by the state police, 7,324 cases of kidnapping were reported last year, followed by 7,127 in 2015, 6,570 in 2014, 5,506 in 2013 and 4,737 in 2012.
