Accused Sheru, alias Sheku Mohammed Ahmed Shaikh targeted the businessman as he knew everything about him due to his family's business dealings with him in the past. While the sleuths from the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) have arrested Shaikh, they are on the lookout for his accomplice.
Spurred by the growing popularity of WhatsApp, a jobless youth hit upon an idea to make use of the cross-platform mobile messaging application to extort money from a south Mumbai businessman. However, the Mumbra man's 'ingenious' plan was no match for city cops, who busted him within hours of receiving a complaint.
Accused Sheru, alias Sheku Mohammed Ahmed Shaikh targeted the businessman as he knew everything about him due to his family's business dealings with him in the past. While the sleuths from the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) have arrested Shaikh, they are on the lookout for his accomplice.
Sources in the AEC said the complainant, a well-known metal trader, had received a WhatsApp message from on an unknown number on his mobile phone in the early hours of July 11. The message carried a picture of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Kaskar along with a threat.
"Mein iqbal kaskar kya re marwadi bahut paisa kama raha hai agar tere ko izzat pyari hai to sida hafta pocha samjha agar tune zara se bhi galti ke na to tu gaya (This is Iqbal Kaskar. Marwadi, heard you are raking in moolah. If you care about honour, pay up protection money. You will be dead if you make even the slightest of mistake)," read the message below the photo.
The businessman ignored the message assuming it to be a prank. However, a cold shudder ran through him when he received another threat message containing pictures of his children the same night. The sender warned of doing harm to his children if he didn't cough up the money or talked about the demand to anyone. Days after the incident, he started getting threat calls on his office landline.
Scared of his life and his children's safety, he approached the VP Road police on Friday. Considering the seriousness of the complaint, AEC was tasked with the probe. "On the basis of the number used to send the WhatsApp messages, we tracked Shaikh to Mumbra and arrested him," said senior inspector Vinayak Vast of Anti-Extortion Cell.
Vast said that Shaikh's father, who passed away in 2005, had a small scrap business in Kurla and the complainant used to purchase metal from him.
"Shaikh had visited the businessman's office many times in connection with his father's business and knew a lot about him. Sheru has told us that since he was in dire need of money, he roped in a friend to devise the extortion plan. We have recovered the mobile phone and SIM used to commit the crime and are looking for his accomplice."
The VP Road police have taken the accused into their custody and have booked him for extortion and threat. If convicted, he could be jailed up to 10 years.
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