A 25 year old man, influenced by videos related to a criminal gang on YouTube, was arrested by the police after he threatened to kill a person and demanded five lakhs as ransom.

According to the police on Tuesday, a case was registered at police station Ghazipur under section 387 (Putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion) and 507 (Criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) of the IPC. The accused has been  identified as Badal Kumar Pathak, alias Chhotu, who hails from Bihar's Munger and presently resides in Delhi's Kondli.

The extortion call was received on Sunday by Mohan Dass, who is employed as a Manager with Alukka Gold Palace in Mayur Pankaj Plaza. The accused received a call from an unknown person claiming to be a member of a criminal gang.

"At about 2:00 pm, a person wearing a navy blue T-shirt and blue lower was apprehended. Upon his cursory search, the mobile phone used in the commission of the crime was recovered.

The accused, Badal, was influenced by videos related to a criminal gang on YouTube and made a plan to extort money from jewellery shops in the Mayur Vihar area," DCP East Apoorva Gupta said.

She added that he used one of his old keypad phones for this purpose and borrowed a SIM card from his friend to make the calls. "The accused called the owners of several jewellery shops in Mayur Vihar, threatening to kill them. Many of these jewellers are being traced, and several have not yet joined the investigation. The accused's connection with the criminal gang is under scrutiny, however nothing has been substantiated so far," the DCP added.