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Toppers try hand at extortion, land in cell

Jake Khan in Bombay

Dressed in sky blue shirt and green trousers, sporting a french beard, 25-year-old Ajitabh Datta looked every bit the yuppy management executive. He might yet have become one, hadn't he become the most educated extortionist to be arrested by the Bombay police so far.

Datta and his friend, Naman Mishra were arrested by the anti-extortion cell of Bombay north-west last Wednesday evening. Handcuffed to a wall, Datta and Mishra looked like they were respectable people who were just being humiliated at the Juhu police station.

"We have read about extortion in the newspapers and, for us, it began as more of a joke than a serious venture," said Datta in fluent English. For Mishra, it was no joke but a challenge.

"We thought these extortionists around were amateurs while we were more intelligent. We thought we could get away with it," he said.

But they couldn't and now they are cooling their heels at the Santa Cruz lock-up. They will be in police custody until Saturday and after that they may be jailed.

Coming from a family of advocates, Datta and Mishra, had had superior academic records, Mishra having topped Allahabad University in economics, and Datta, a science graduate, having made the maximum marks ever in a combination of chemistry and mathematics at Kanpur University. Datta has also topped the National Talent Search exam.

Mishra's father, Priyadrashi Mishra, who is the chief standing counsel in the Allahabad High Court, is not aware of his arrest. Datta's family too does not know about his arrest. Datta's father Sharadchandra, who is dead now, was also a lawyer.

In Bombay, Datta had quit the job of a production executive at BlowPlast Limited and decided to get into garment manufacturing and export. Mishra was a student at the Chetna College, Bandra, and Datta had almost completed his master's degree in business administration from Narsee Monjee Institute for Management Studies with marketing as main subject.

Since both lived in a hostel and had no friends in the city, loans were out of question. According to additional commissioner of police, north west region, Rakesh Maria, "It was an article (on extortion) in the Indian Express that inspired them to arrange money this way." The article on extortion appeared last Monday and the duo hatched a scheme that evening itself.

They lacked know-how about extortion though and they didn't try to find out either. They pounced on the first suitable victim there was, Datta's teacher at NMIMS, Professor Rajan Saxena.

"I'd worked with him on some marketing projects and was aware of his affluence. I also had his visiting cards, with all his numbers. So we decided to call him," said Datta. Mishra made the first call and, claiming his name was Salim, said 'bhai' had demanded Rs 1million.

Why Rs 1million?

"Because we knew that if we asked for one million we would get 200,000."

Datta made the next call, claiming his name was Javed. He referred to Saxena's call and asked if his money was ready.

Saxena rushed to Maria, and lodged a complaint. Maria asked Saxena to fix up a rendezvous with the extortionists.

In their next call, Datta said if the money is ready, he ought to go to the McDonald's restaurant at Lokhandwala Complex, Andheri, northwest Bombaay. Saxena came in his Esteem car and parked outside the restaurant. Mishra then called him on the mobile and asked him to pull down the tinted glasses and step out of the car.

Saxena came out of the car and stood outside McDonald's. The duo knew the police would lay a trap at the first location and guessed that any change in the first location might catch them off-guard. So Saxena was asked to go to the High Rise Restaurant nearby.

Outside High Rise, the duo might have come up to Saxena hadn't he recognised Datta early and raised an alarm. The waiting police promptly moved in and arrested the duo.

Datta admits that it was their over-confidence that did them in.

"It never occurred to us that police could ever arrest us," said Datta. Asked what they would do after being released from prison, Datta philosophically said, "We know society will not accept us. I may leave the city or..." Datta's voice trailed off there.

However, Datta did not answer negatively when asked whether he plans to continue extorting money.

"I don't know," was all he would say. As this correspondent was leaving the Juhu police station though, Datta asked for his visiting card so that he could get in touch with him when he needed a job!

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