27 March,2017 06:00 AM IST | | Santosh Wagh
Accused tried to extort money from a man claiming he knew whereabouts of his 16-year-old son; gets arrested after cops trace details of account where he wanted cash transferred
Accused Brijesh Rawat had planned to extort money from Aniket Tiwari's father
In a con gone awry, a 27-year-old cook, who tried to extort money from the father of a missing boy, landed behind bars after the police foiled his game plan.
According to the police, the accused, identified as Brijesh Rawat, works as a cook at the Royal Treat restaurant in Mulund West. Rawat had chanced upon a poster put up by Rajendraprasad Tiwari whose teenage son had gone missing earlier in February.
Tiwari, who works in Saudi Arabia, had returned to Mumbai last month after his 16-year-old son Aniket had gone missing. Aniket had left for his relative's place on February 15,
but never returned home. Tiwari then registered a missing person's complaint with the Mulund police and put up posters in the area, announcing a reward for the person, who shared any details on his son's whereabouts.
Rawat, who had no clue about Aniket, decided to use the opportunity to scam Tiwari. "He called up Tiwari on the cellphone number shared in the poster and claimed that he knew where his son was hiding," said a senior official.
Aniket has been missing since February 15. Pics /Rajesh Gupta
However, Rawat demanded Rs 20,000 in exchange for the information and told him to transfer the money to a bank account.
Tiwari immediately informed the police. After obtaining details of the bank account, the police traced the account to one Aamir Singh, who turned out to be a friend of Rawat's. Singh then led the Mulund police to Rawat, who was later arrested.
Rawat told interrogators that he needed the money to go back home to Uttarakhand for his pregnant wife's delivery.
When contacted, Senior Police Inspector Rajaram Vanmane of Mulund police station, said, "We have arrested the accused and have charged him under Section 385 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code."
Meanwhile, Tiwari said that he hasn't received any leads on his missing son. "The police haven't done anything since lodging the missing person's complaint," he said.
