Man demanding ransom worth lakhs from educational institutions in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh arrested
Sonipat (The Uttam Hindu): Uttar Pradesh Police have arrested a criminal from Gandhi Nagar on Khedi Road in Ganaur town of Sonipat for allegedly demanding ransom from school managements. The accused is also alleged to have demanded Rs 25 lakh from the chairman of four educational institutions in Panipat. Haryana Police is now preparing to bring him from Uttar Pradesh on a protection warrant.
The accused was hiding in Gandhi Colony of Ganaur. He has been identified as Sunny alias Sanni. The UP Police traced the system location through the IP address used by the accused and arrested him from Gandhi Nagar, Khedi Road in Sonipat.
In Panipat, the chairman of four schools, Vijender Maan, had lodged a complaint stating that on August 24 at around 10:18 am, he received a threatening email on the school’s official email ID. Upon opening the email, he found a demand for Rs 25 lakh as ransom. The email also threatened that if the amount was not paid, the school chairman and his family would be shot dead. Based on the complaint, Panipat Police registered a case on December 16 under relevant sections and began investigation.
In another case, Kamaljeet Singh, who runs The Gurukulam International School in Shastri Nagar G Block under the Nauchandi police station area of Meerut, reported a similar incident. On the evening of December 10, while checking his email, he opened a link sent from an unknown email ID. The link contained pictures of weapons along with an audio clip demanding Rs 10 lakh as extortion.
Following the complaint, Meerut Police registered a case and initiated an investigation. Since the ransom was demanded through email, police sought details of the IP address from which the mail was sent. Information was obtained after contacting Google’s headquarters. The Nauchandi Police, along with the SWAT team, traced the IP address to Sonipat and detained Sunny alias Sanni.
During interrogation, the accused admitted to sending the threatening email to Kamaljeet Singh. Police also recovered digital evidence from his system. Further investigation revealed that a similar case had already been registered against him in April at Panipat’s Sector 13/17 police station, where he had demanded Rs 25 lakh from school chairman Vijender Maan.
Panipat DSP Satish Vats stated that two complaints related to ransom demands had been received, cases have been registered, and police action is underway.