Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF), in a joint operation with Goa police, arrested the alleged kingpin of an extortion racket from Dehradun’s Nehru Colony area in Uttarakhand, officials said on Sunday.
The accused was allegedly absconding for nearly three years after being booked in a high-profile extortion case registered in north Goa.
According to senior superintendent of police (STF) Ajai Singh, the accused, Salman Khan, son of Jamshed Khan, a resident of Mehboob Colony in Majra under the Patel Nagar police station area of Dehradun, was wanted in a case registered at the Mapusa police station in Goa under multiple charges , including extortion, criminal conspiracy, wrongful confinement and assault.
“Under the directions of STF headquarters, continuous efforts are being made to ensure that Uttarakhand does not become a safe shelter for criminals fleeing from other states,” said Singh.
He said the accused was part of a gang that allegedly impersonated officers of the Delhi Narcotics Bureau and extorted crores of rupees from wealthy businessmen through a planned extortion operation.
Investigations revealed that the gang used women to lure affluent targets into compromising situations and later blackmailed them by threatening to leak obscene videos.
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During interrogation, Salman Khan disclosed that the gang was formed in 2023 along with several associates, including residents of Delhi, Saharanpur and Haridwar.
“The accused allegedly targeted a Mumbai-based businessman by inviting him to a rented villa in Mapusa, Goa, where hidden cameras were been installed. Members of the gang later stormed into the villa posing as narcotics officers, assaulted the businessman and extorted huge sums of money from him”, Singh said.
The STF said that following the victim’s complaint, several members of the gang had already been arrested by the Goa police, including a woman identified as Nivedita Sharma and another accused, Bhuvan Arora of Haridwar. Salman Khan, described as the alleged ringleader, managed to evade arrest during earlier raids conducted by Goa police.
Acting on specific intelligence inputs developed by the STF Dehradun unit, the accused was apprehended from Nehru Colony area on Friday and handed over to Goa police for further legal proceedings.
Police said investigations into the accused’s criminal history and possible involvement in similar crimes in other states are ongoing.
