City’s D company inspired extortion gang arrested
The gang has been active for the last few months on the outskirts
Hyderabad: The Cyberabad police busted Hyderabad’s very own D-company by arresting a seven-member gang. Though none of them have confessed to have any contact with the Mumbai underworld gang, they were inspired by it and used the name to create fear among the victims.
The gang had extorted Rs 20 lakh from two businessmen from Vivekanandanagar Colony of Kukatpally and had threatened another businessman after demanding Rs 2 crore from him. They had opened fire at a farmhouse of the businessman near Maktha, in Miyapur area to scare him, in the third week of December. The gang leader is a marble contractor named Leonard Swani.
Leonard, 29, is a native of Nagercoil, has been involved in extortion cases in the past. Police officials said that he possessed a country-made pistol with 14 rounds. Raju Sharma, 28, a native of Chapra in Bihar, is a recovery agent for some finance companies and was involved in extortion cases Police recovered an air pistol from his possession. Cops said that the gang had procured firearms illegally from Bihar to scare victims.
The gang has been active for the last few months on the outskirts. The rest of the gang members are from Hyderabad, East Godavari, and Prakasham districts.
“Following the firing at the farmhouse of the businessman in Miyapur area, the local police had booked a case. We then formed a special team to catch them since the gang was planning to target other businessmen in the city. After 20 days of effort we nabbed them near a petrol pump in Gachibowli,” said Karthik-eya, DCP of Madhapur.