KHONSA, 31 Aug: The Tirap police, in a coordinated action with the Darjeeling police, arrested one extortionist, identified as Karim Khan, of Lalpahar Tipong Gaon, Tinsukia district (Assam), from Sukhna in West Bengal on Thursday.
The Tirap police team was led by DSP Togum Gonggo and SI Sheychin Chena.
According to Tirap SP Rahul Gupta, the district police had for the past few months been receiving inputs about a series of telephonic extortions in Tirap district, originating from two repeated phone numbers.
The calls were made under the name of self-styled captain Rocky Thapa, claiming affiliation with the NSCN (K-YA). The demands included seeking assistance from political leaders before elections and requesting rice bags for NSCN (K-YA) party members in Tirap, the SP informed.
The police registered a suo moto case (u/s 384/506 IPC r/w 10/13 UAP Act) at the police station here in this regard on 30 August.
The SP informed that, “after an in-depth investigation, the police managed to trace the individual responsible to Sukhna, near Darjeeling, West Bengal.”
A mobile phone and SIM cards used for extortion, along with a bank account passbook were recovered from Khan’s possession.
The SP added that the accused, a former resident of Khonsa town, had a criminal record with involvement in five cases.
“He exploited the name of Rocky – someone he encountered while being incarcerated in the Khonsa jail in 2020. Since his release in April 2021, he had been using Rocky’s identity for extortion. The accused has so far admitted to extorting more than Rs 2 lakhs. Further investigation is on,” he said. (DIPRO)
