Surat: The Special Operations Group (SOG) arrested two men for allegedly extorting money from two fair price shop (FPS) owners by accusing them of black marketing and threatening to malign them on social media.An FIR each was registered at Limbayat and Godadara police stations against the accused, identified as Shravan Joshi and Sampat Chaudhary, for extorting a total of Rs 1.80 lakh.According to police, the first case pertains to Limbayat, where on Oct 10 this year, the accused visited Pandit Deendayal Grahak Bhandar, an FPS run by Sindhu More in Ramnagar Society. Joshi allegedly introduced himself as an AAP worker and accused her of black marketing. He threatened to get the government licence cancelled and shot a video of the shop, which he later posted on social media to blackmail the family.Police said Joshi later sent Chaudhary to the shop, where he threatened to record and upload more videos unless Rs 50,000 per month was paid as protection money. The complainant, Nilesh More, stated that the accused continued harassing his family and instigating locals against them.Following the intervention of a common acquaintance, the accused allegedly agreed to stop the harassment in return for a one-time payment of Rs one lakh.On Dec 16, Chaudhary allegedly accepted the amount near Adarsh School after consulting Joshi. The transaction was secretly recorded by a friend of the complainant.In the offence registered at Godadara police station, complainant Kamlesh Katik alleged that the same duo extorted Rs 80,000 from him after threatening to defame him and accused him of black marketing. The accused allegedly recorded videos of his FPS in Prakashnagar and threatened to upload them on social media unless money was paid. On Oct 5, Katik handed over Rs 80,000 to Chaudhary to avoid further harassment, police said.SOG police inspector A S Sonara said the duo was running an extortion racket targeting FPS in areas such as Limbayat, Godadara, Dindoli and nearby localities. “Based on complaints and corroborative evidence provided by the victims, we verified the facts and arrested both accused,” he said.
