Man, 3 sons ran mandi extortion racket, caught

NEW DELHI: Four people were arrested on Tuesday for running an extortion racket at the Okhla mandi for the past two years. The prime accused and his three sons earlier sold fruits at the mandi, but later shifted to extorting money from traders.
The family used to hire henchmen from western UP to threaten the traders. Police, on October 10 received a complaint about a fight at Okhla mandi where the complainant said he was attacked by a group of men when he refused to pay them protection money.
It was later found that a history-sheeter in the area, Anwar Langra, had instructed the men to attack the complainant.
Police said that Langra and his sons, Imran, Shahrukh and Salman had been demanding a monthly amount from the traders to carry out their business. He had earlier extorted money from several others as well, but no one had come forward to register a complaint.
“We apprehended Anwar and the others from a camp near Sriniwaspuri. The accused admitted to having attacked several traders in the name of protection money. A case under MCOCA has been registered against the four men,” said DCP (east) Romil Baaniya.
Police said that the gang operated like a syndicate and had divided the market into zones. The traders later informed the police that Langra and his sons used to initially extort money from truck drivers, but later started threatening the vendors and traders as well. Each of them had to pay between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 every week.
Anwar’s family had bought properties using the extorted money. They also used to hire criminals from south Delhi to threaten the traders, after which Salman and Shahrukh would intervene and start demanding protection money. Police suspect that the men had also procured illegal weapons for the business.