Mr S.B.Shetty was shocked and surprised to receive a threatening call from his residence landline. The caller claimed to be gangster Bannanje Raja. Mr Shetty immediately filed a complaint at the Mumbai police commissioner’s office. The case has been transferred to the city police commissioner as Mr Shetty was in the Bengaluru when he received the extortion call. The case has been handed over to the Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths for further investigations.
Sixty-six year old Shetty, a resident of Bandra in Mumbai, is a renowned businessman. He has a reputed garments export business that has 3500 employees. Shetty recently launched into the hotel projects through his private limited company Shivboj Hotel and Restaurants. He is constructing hotels in Bengaluru, Mangalore and Mumbai.
In Karnataka, the hotel is coming up on Tumkur Road. “A month ago, when Shetty was in Mumbai, he received a call from an international number on his mobile phone. The caller introduced himself as Bannanje Raja, said he was calling from Malaysia and asked if he had ever heard about him. When Shetty said he didn’t know of him, the caller told him to find out more about him from the internet,” said a CCB officer investigating the case.
“Then ‘Bannanje Raja’ enquired about the ongoing hotel project and warned him that he would not allow him to continue the project until he paid a ransom. ‘Raja’ then disconnected the call and told Shetty not to avoid his calls. If he did, he would be shot dead either in Mumbai or in Bengaluru. After two days, ‘Raja’ called Shetty when he was in Bengaluru near the hotel construction site and told him to pay a ransom of Rs 50 lakh. When Shetty refused to pay the ransom, the caller increased the ransom to Rs 2 crore and again threatened to kill Shetty if he refused to pay the ransom,” the officer said.
That evening ‘Raja’ called Shetty again and asked him to check the number on his mobile phone. The number happened to be Shetty’s Mumbai residence land line number. ‘Raja’ told Shetty it was as good as being in his house and asked him to pay the ransom at the earliest. The entire conversation was in Tulu but Shetty had not recorded the conversation,” the officer said.
