Teenager and 2 Others Arrested for Posing as Amit Shah's Son to Extort Money from U'khand BJP MLA

Dehradun: A 19-year-old and his two accomplices have been arrested for allegedly posing as Union Minister Amit Shah's son and demanding Rs 5 lakh from BJP MLA from Haridwar's Ranipur, Adesh Chauhan, over the phone in pursuit of a luxurious life, an official said on Tuesday.

Pramod Singh Dobal, Haridwar Senior Superintendent of Police confirmed that Priyanshu Pant, the main accused had called the MLA and demanded money, PTI reported.

The second accomplice, Uvesh Ahmed, was arrested in Rudrapur, Udham Singh Nagar district. He added that Gaurav Nath, the third participant, is currently being searched for.

The incident occurred on Sunday evening when MLA Adesh Chauhan received a call from an unknown number where the caller introduced himself as Jay Shah, the son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and requested a Rs 5 lakh donation for the party fund. During this conversation, Chauhan grew suspicious and expressed his confusion, the caller responded with offensive language and threatened to tarnish Chauhan's reputation on social media if the money wasn't provided.

Following this, a complaint was filed at the Bahadarabad police station under the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, and the police began their investigation.

During the investigation, the police teams tracked the mobile phone’s call data records (CDR), IMEI numbers, and locations.

After conducting raids in Ghaziabad and Delhi, Pant was arrested in Delhi with the mobile phone used in the crime. Pant admitted that, in pursuit of a more lavish lifestyle, he and his partners, Uvesh Ahmed and Gaurav Nath, had plotted to extort money from the MLAs, according to police.

Notably, senior officials also mentioned that the three also extorted money from two other Uttarakhand MLAs—Nainital MLA Sarita Arya and Rudrapur MLA Shiv Arora—by promising to make them ministers. Separate cases have been filed in Nainital and Rudrapur related to this matter.

(Inputs from PTI)