A person was taken into custody on Saturday for allegedly being the person who called extortion to Malda district’s Englishbazar municipality chairman and previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmaker, Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury. Chowdhury was speaking to the police, who said the accused, named Sahadat Sk, demanded ₹20 lakh from him and threatened to kill him and his family if the demand was not met.
Sahadat, a resident of English Bazar, had fabricated himself as a Pradeep, a member of the dreaded D Company of master criminal Dawood Ibrahim, an organized crime syndicate. Chowdhury, on Friday morning, received the extortion attempt call from the accused as he spoke Hindi and asked for the ransom. After the call, Sahadat also sent a threatening text message to Chowdhury, who immediately informed the police later on.
Five persons from Kalaiachak and Englishbazar were detained for questioning in connection with the incident, and investigators started a swift operation. Sahadat had confessed to making the extortion call, as per interrogation. He said he worked as a land broker and sank to crime in an attempt to pay off his growing debts.
Police sources suggest that Sahadat had procured a new SIM card from a contact, travelled to Kolkata to make the calls and sent threatening messages to confuse the police. Police later tracked him to Malda, and he was arrested in the city.
However, senior police officials said that those involved in the extortion attempt on the ex-TMC Minister will be suitably dealt with. Authorities are checking whether Sahadat had any real connections to organized crime or was playing a bluff and was just linked to D Company. The investigation is ongoing.
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