West Bengal: Insurance agent, son held for extortion

Kolkata: A woman life insurance agent and her son were arrested by the police for allegedly extort a man in Salt Lake of Rs 2 lakhs. The accused — Anjana Majumdar and her son Soumyak, alias Kuntal — are residents of Ranikuthi in Jadavpur.

According to the police, G.L. Singhal, a resident of GC 37 in Sector III of Salt Lake, was getting extortion messages through WhatsApp and phone calls for the last few days for around Rs 2 lakhs from the mother-son duo who threatened him that his intimate photographs would be sent to his family if he would not pay the amount.

Mr Singhal lodged a complaint with the Bidhannagar South police station against them on November 23, said deputy commissioner of police (detective department) of the Bidhannagar city police K. Sabari Rajkumar.

Preliminary investigation revealed that he had met Anjana to buy a life insurance policy few months ago. During their meetings Anjana collected those intimate photos and engaged her son to intimidate Mr Singhal and demand money from him. How she collected the photos is now being probed by the police.

A trap was laid by the police on Saturday afternoon. Mr Singhal told Anjana that he would pay her the amount but she would have to come to Salt Lake to collect the money. At around 4.45 pm when Anjana came, she was caught by a police team in plainclothes. Later her son was also arrested following her statement, Mr Rajkumar added.