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Accused Allegedly Collected Over Rs 40 Lakh in Extortion Money for Gangster Deepu Banur, Say Police

Two men associated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang were arrested by the UT police operations cell for running an extortion racket in the Tricity area. The arrested individuals were identified as Ravi Kumar, aged 34, from Banur village in Mohali, and Somdutt, aged 34, from Maloya Colony in Chandigarh. Ravi Kumar is the cousin of gangster Deepu Banur, who is currently imprisoned in Patiala jail and is affiliated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

During the arrest, police recovered two country-made pistols, seven live cartridges, and a two-wheeler from the accused. According to the police, both Ravi Kumar and Somdutt were extorting money on behalf of Deepu Banur to strengthen the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. They had reportedly extorted approximately Rs 40-45 lakh from businessmen in the Tricity area over the last six months. So far, the police have traced transactions of around Rs 25-30 lakh related to the duo, and they have managed to recover Rs 1.57 lakh of the extorted amount.

SP (Operations) Mridul stated that the accused, Ravi Kumar and Somdutt, were arrested on July 19 and have been in police custody since then. Their interrogation revealed the involvement of several other gangsters. Deepu Banur, with the backing of Lawrence Bishnoi, had been making threatening calls to businessmen from inside Patiala jail. Ravi Kumar was directed by Deepu Banur to collect extortion money from Tricity businessmen on his behalf. The money collected through extortion was further utilized in lending, gambling, and narcotics activities in the Tricity area. It was found that, in the last six months, Ravi had collected around Rs 40-45 lakh under the direction of Deepu Banur, out of which the police have managed to trace Rs 25-30 lakh.

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