GUWAHATI: A 39-year-old man has been arrested in connection with an alleged armed extortion case after officers from Pragjyotishpur Police recovered a large cache of firearms and ammunition, the victim's car and other incriminating materials during a raid at his residence in Chapaidong, Bonda.
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The case was registered at Pragjyotishpur Police Station following an FIR lodged on July 2, alleging that the accused threatened, assaulted and wrongfully confined the victim before extorting ₹3 lakh and retaining his car. During the raid, police arrested the accused, recovered the victim's vehicle and seized an empty cartridge case, which they said corroborates allegations that a warning shot was fired during the incident.
Police seized one pistol, three rifles, more than 360 live rounds of ammunition, 80 empty cartridges, a pickup truck, three mobile phones and an arms licence from the premises. Investigators are verifying the authenticity of the arms licence while also probing the source of the seized weapons and ammunition.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused and the victim were former business associates. Police said the victim was threatened, assaulted, forced to sign documents and coerced into transferring ₹3 lakh through an online transaction before his car was retained by the accused.
Police further said the accused has four charge-sheeted criminal cases registered across Assam.
Further investigation is underway.
