Extortionist threatening city jeweller arrested in police encounter

Kanpur: Police arrested an extortionist in an encounter late Monday night after he demanded money from a jeweller. His associate managed to escape. The criminal sustained a gunshot wound to his right leg and was taken to a hospital.

The police arrested an extortionist who demanded Rs 50 lakh from Govind Nagar jeweller Anil Kumar Gupta. The police shot the perpetrator in the leg, and seized a firearm from him. His accomplice, however, fled the scene on a blue motorcycle.

Anil Kumar Gupta, resident of Q Block Govind Nagar, owns a jewellery shop in Bilhaur. On June 8, while returning from Bilhaur, the criminals on a motorcycle pursued him and opened fire while he was unloading items from his car boot. The jeweller became aware of the attack when the criminal called him and demanded Rs 50 lakh. Later, Gupta lodged a complaint with Govind Nagar police. The investigating team discovered that the SIM card used for the extortion call was stolen from a mobile repair shop.

No substantial leads emerged despite questioning the shop owner.

The criminal later called from another unregistered number to enquire about the payment, but this SIM was registered to an Odisha-based labourer working in the Metro in Kanpur. During investigation, the police obtained the CCTV footage from Shivrajpur toll plaza showing the attackers going from Bilhaur to Govind Nagar. Based on the footage and the criminal's Monday phone activity, police tracked their location in the Gujaini area.

When the police team pursued them to the Gujaini underpass, the accused fired shots while attempting to flee. In the ensuing exchange, Anuj Tiwari from Anand Nagar, Rawatpur was injured, while his associate Chhotu escaped.

DCP (South) Dipendra Nath Chaudhary confirmed the arrest of the extortionist during the encounter, adding that efforts continue to gather additional information and locate his accomplice.