Srinagar Apr 2: The City police claimed to have detained two persons for allegedly demanding a ransom of rupees thirty lakh from a Naib- Tehsildar and recovered a pistol and some rounds from their possession. In separate incidents, police also busted a gang of burglars in north City  while seven more accused were arrested for robbery.
 SSP Srinagar Syed Ashiq Hussain Bukhari said a man identified as Ghulam Mohiuduin Dar was detained after he used to call a Naib Tehsildar, Shabir Hussain and demanded the ransom.
 “Dar was the kingpin of the ransom racket,” the SSP said.
 “Shabir belonged to Zadibal area. He informed police that an unknown person was demanding huge ransom by making threat calls. He used to read verses of Quran and would call himself a noted cleric from Iran.   All the calls were made from STD. We took mapping of various STD’s and at the end he was zeroed in on Thursday,” the SSP said adding he used to “demand Rs 3 crore initially but later he reduced his ransom to 30 lakh rupees”.
 The SSP identified the second accused as Muhammad Rafiq Gulab.
 “His sustaining questioning led to the arrest of the kingpin of the threat-ransom racket namely Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Dar,” the SSP said.
 He said one Chinese Pistol, three live Pistol rounds and one fired cartridge were recovered from his possession.
 Police has lodged a case FIR No. 13/2011 under section 7/27 Arms Act, 307, 451, 506 RPC.
 In north of City, the SSP said four persons including two Biharis were apprehended for gold theft. He said the accused used to enter the house on pretext of cleaning the ornaments.
 “They used to treat them with chemicals and steal the residual gold. We have recovered 13 gram of gold from their possession,” Bukhari said.
 Meanwhile police claimed to have solved two cases of theft by arresting four burglars in Nowgam. They have been identified as Fayaz Ahmad Baba, Abdul Rashid Baba, Ghulam Hassan Waga and Rashid Ahmad Hajam.
 “We have recovered stolen goods like Mustard Oil, Ghee and large quantity of Spices,” Bukhari said.
 In separate incident SSP said that Nowgam Police also arrested three persons smuggling illicit Deodar.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 2 Apr 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 2 Apr 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 3 Apr 2011 00:00:00 IST