23-year-old man used to scan hospital websites for doctors' phone numbers
23-year-old man used to scan hospital websites for doctors' phone numbersu00a0
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Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of Crime Branch arrested a commerce graduate, Sameer Ganesh Kulkarni alias Sameer Shaikh (23) who primarily targeted doctors and demanded ransom from them. The Ahmadnagar resident was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly sending threatening messages to a prominent city-based orthopaedic surgeon and demanding ransom from him. Kulkarni was produced before a court on Thursday that remanded him in police custody till November 22
Dr Rahul Ajit Damle (38) attached to Jehangir hospital and who also runs a clinic on F C Road, had lodged a complaint with the crime branch on November 14. Kulkarni was also involved in threatening Mumbai-based skin specialist Dr K E Mukadam since November 9. According police inspector Kishor Jadhav, "Kulkarni devised a strategy by demanding ransom in thousands. He thought that if he would have demanded lakhs of rupees, the doctors would have lodged a police complaint."
According to the police, Dr Damle got a call on his cell phone on November 14 from Kulkarni. He threatenedu00a0 to kill him. He sent an HDFC bank account number as a text message and told him to deposit the money within 24 hours.
After this incident Dr Damle approached the police. The case was transferred to the AEC for investigation.
The AEC sleuths put Dr Damle's mobile phone on surveillance and traced Kulkarni's location to Ahmednagar.
Sub-inspector Bharat Kindre of AEC said, "We found that the mobile phone was registered in the name of Sameer Kulkarni while he used 'Sameer Shaikh' in his calls and messages to Dr Damle. He was arrested from his residence in Ahmadnagar. A formal complaint has been registered at Shivaji Nagar police station."
Tech-savvy criminal
Investigations have revealed that Kulkarni, who also holds diploma in printing technology, had also threatened two more doctors in the past. He added, "Kulkarni used to scan hospital websites for doctors' names and would then search for their mobile numbers on Internet. In both the cases he identified himself as 'Sameer Shaikh' while calling doctors for ransom amount. Investigation is going on to find whether he is involved in other such cases."
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