Hyderabad: The police nabbed a four-member gang which extorted money from businessmen, posing as Maoists and using the name of slain gangster Nayeem. Police seized cash, vehicle and a toy pistol from the gang.
The arrested are Bolla Narsimhulu, A. Krishna and P. Surender of Nalgonda and R. Sriramulu of Medak. Another gang member Sammaiah is absconding.
Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagawat said that Narsimhulu was the gang’s kingpin. Years ago he came to Hyderabad and started working as a construction labourer. Later, he started real estate deals and came into contact with former Maoist Sammaiah. They hatched a plan to extort money using the name of Nayeem.
“They threatened one R. Balamahesh, a resident of Dammaiguda, and collected Rs 1 lakh from him. They also forcibly registered his plot of 60 yards in Sammaiah's name. Later, with the help of Sriramulu and Krishna, the duo extorted money from eight other businessmen,” he said.
The gang used to threaten people to pay Rs 50 lakh. If they refused they would say that the lives of their children or family members are at risk. After that the gang goes to the victim’s business site and threatens with a toy pistol.
In December 2015, the gang extorted Rs 75,000 from one Peddi Srinivasulu of Medak. They also extracted money from one R. Srinivas. They also claimed that they were Nayeem’s associates and extorted Rs 16.38 lakh from four people. Rachakonda SOT nabbed the four suspects. They were remanded to custody.
