The Punjab Police has arrested three operators of a gang involved in extortion and duping people.

Chandigarh:

The Punjab Police has busted three members of an extortion gang linked to gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. Those arrested have been identified as Rohit Bhardwaj alias Rimmi, a resident of Zirakpur, Mohit Bhardwaj and Arjun Thakur, both residents of Chandigarh. Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav gave this information.

DGP Gaurav Yadava said that after a detailed investigation into the case and intelligence gathering, the State Special Operations Cell, Mohali, immediately initiated action.

Police teams have recovered Rs 14.78 lakh cash from accused Rohit Bhardwaj alias Rimmi and other incriminating evidence, including mobile phones, from the other accused.

The DGP said the accused were using online gambling platforms to dupe people. The arrested persons were using the online gambling platform 'Diamond Exchange', he said. They were duping people by luring them to join online gaming and earn huge profits by betting on low fees.

After winning some prizes, the victims started losing in betting. The accused then offered to give lakhs of rupees on credit. He said that once the victim got the money through credit, the accused would charge huge interest on the amount, which at times turned into crores of rupees.

When the victim could not return the money, the criminals used to make threatening phone calls to him through their gangster associates in jail and abroad, DGP Yadava said.

During the investigation, police teams checked various modes of payment and bank accounts through which the money was transferred, he said. He further said that the process of freezing the bank accounts linked to the activities of the accused has been started. An investigation is underway to identify the owner of the website used for the fraud and the place of its operation.

AIG Ashwini Kapoor said that the arrested accused were running the gang from a rented flat in Sector 69 of SAS Nagar. It has also come to light that the accused have played a key role in carrying out extortion activities from night club and bar owners and businessmen in Mohali and Chandigarh at the behest of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, he said.

An FIR was lodged against the accused on May 29 at the SSOC police station in Mohali.