A 19-year-old teen has been arrested for allegedly hatching a plan to extort money from a doctor working at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Central Delhi posing as underworld don ‘Salim’.
The Crime Branch of Delhi Police arrested the youth, identified as Dheeraj Bhardwaj, a resident of Najafgarh, on Wednesday night. According to police, Bhardwaj had on May 19 demanded Rs 10 lakh from Dr Rajat Mohan, a cardiologist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. He also runs a private clinic in Central Delhi’s Prasad Nagar area. The accused had threatened him of eliminating him and his family members, if he didn’t pay the money. He was inspired by a South Indian potboiler in which an actor, posing as an underworld don, extorts money from victims after sending photographs of his family and threatens to kill them. “Bhardwaj also used this modus operandi and tried to extort money from victim doctor by posing as underworld don ‘Salim’. He had identified the specialist doctor as his potential victim during his visit to the hospital,” said a senior police official.
Taking inspiration from South Indian movies, he shot the photographs of the victim. He also followed the doctor to his residence and took photographs of his family members. He then made calls for extorting money. On May 19, the doctor received an envelope containing photographs of his family and thereafter, he received threatening calls. He used to call from PCOs so that his location could not be traced.