AMU clerk, facing ₹1 crore debt, posed as Lawrence Bishnoi to extort money; arrested

A lower division clerk working at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Uttar Pradesh has been arrested for posting as jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi to extort ₹2 crore from unsuspecting individuals, police said.

A senior police officer informed on Monday, June 8 that Hashmat Hussain sent letters to several top officials at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), a leading jeweller in the city as well as a member of the medical fraternity, threatening them to pay him protection money, PTI reported.

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He asked them to send money via Bitcoin/QR code or face the consequences.

In total, the letters were sent to eight persons on Saturday, PTI quoted SSP Neeraj Kumar as saying.

Among them, two, which included a leading jeweller, reported the matter to police on Saturday night itself. Post that, a team was formed and sent to the General Post Office in Delhi from where the letters were sent via speed post.

From the CCTV footage provided by the staff at the post office, police was able to identify Hussain as the prime suspect in the case.

Ultimately, Hussain broke down during interrogation and confessed the crime. He said that he was planning to extort ₹2 crore, as he faced a debt of nearly ₹1 crore, the SSP said.

Among the key targets were the controller of admissions and examinations at the AMU, a jeweller as well as a senior consultant at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital affiliated to the AMU.

Police informed that the accused selected the targets after carefully examining detailed information regarding their financial status and family.

He has been booked under Section 308(2) (extortion) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).