Gangster’s aide held for extortion bid in Bokaro

Bokaro: An alleged associate of fugitive gangster Prince Khan was arrested for extortion and criminal intimidation, police said on Tuesday. The accused Rakesh Kumar, 37, had allegedly targeted BMW Industries Limited, which is setting up a greenfield steel complex in Balidih at a cost of Rs 803.47 crore. The company at present has seven functional steel processing centres in Jamshedpur and Howrah in West Bengal.

Rakesh, a resident of Sector-2C in Bokaro, was arrested from Balidih area and was remanded to judicial custody later in the day.

Suresh Kumar Singh, plant manager of the upcoming facility, had registered a formal complaint on March 12 this year at Balidih Industrial police station. In his complaint, Singh claimed to have received multiple extortion calls in the name of Khan in exchange for allowing smooth operations at the upcoming facility. The management had also reported receiving persistent threat letters.

Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered and a special investigation team was constituted. “The accused was tracked down and arrested using technical surveillance and human intelligence inputs,” DSP (Headquarters) Pawan Kumar said. “Rakesh was allegedly in direct contact with Khan via an international WhatsApp number. During interrogation, he confessed to acting on Khan’s instructions and drafting threatening notes that were circulated at multiple locations,” the DSP said.

Police said videos of these threat letters were also shared on social media to mount pressure on the company. Rakesh reportedly received Rs 1.5 lakh through two accounts for carrying out the operation. Investigators are now examining the financial trail for possible links to a wider criminal network. Rakesh has prior criminal cases, including a case of theft registered at Nimiaghat police station in Giridih district.