CS aspirant held for Rs 15 lakh extortion bid in Mandsaur

Indore: Inspired by crime-based films, web series and social media reels, a 20-year-old Company Secretary aspirant allegedly scripted a Rs 15 lakh extortion plot targeting a Mandsaur businessman, only to be arrested by Kotwali police before he could execute the plan.

Mandsaur SP Vinod Meena said that the accused, Rehan Khan, a BA second-year student from Khilchipura, allegedly watched movies and crime-related reels to learn ways to threaten victims and evade police tracking.

The case surfaced after businessman Tayyab Ali Bohra approached police during a public hearing on May 19, alleging that an unidentified caller first demanded Rs 5 lakh and later raised the demand to Rs 15 lakh while threatening to shoot him dead.

Police asked the complainant to stay in contact with the caller to help gather technical evidence. During subsequent calls, the accused allegedly repeated the threats and pressured the businessman to arrange money immediately.

The police traced the calls to Rehan and arrested him on Saturday. Investigations revealed that the accused had worked at the complainant’s under-construction house nearly four years ago during an AC fitting assignment and had since planned to extort money from him.

Police said that he purchased a separate keypad phone around seven months ago solely to commit the crime and never used it otherwise.

During questioning, the accused admitted stealing SIM cards from passengers during train journeys between Ujjain and Indore to avoid detection. In one instance, he allegedly removed only the SIM card from a phone kept on charging, believing the victim was less likely to file a complaint if the handset remained untouched. Police also found that he had procured another SIM card using documents of a labourer after promising him a job.

Investigators said the accused acted alone and frequently switched off his phone after making calls to avoid location tracing. He also changed locations repeatedly while contacting the victim. Police seized an Rs 80,000 motorcycle, a smartphone, a keypad mobile phone and SIM cards used in the crime.