A prosthetic thumb, a smartwatch, and an extortion letter demanding ₹5 crore landed at the doorstep of a 50-year-old Shahdara resident — kicking off a bizarre extortion attempt that ended with the arrest of his friend of 30 years.
The accused, Abhishek Kumar Jain, 45, his relative Sachin Jain, were arrested and his minor niece was apprehended, deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara) Prashant Gautam said.
The case unfolded on April 16, when Vikas Jain was approached by a minor girl who handed him a package, warning him that “dreaded people”, who has already killed her father, were now after him. Inside the brown cardboard box, Vikas found a severed thumb, a smartwatch with an orange band, and a two-page letter — printed in Hindi with titles in Urdu and Arabic — demanding ₹5 crore “for the people of Gaza.”
The letter instructed Vikas to write “YS” outside his house before 8am the next day and to pay within 10 days, threatening that if he failed, the amount would double and a family member would be “lessened.”
It claimed the girl’s father was killed after approaching police. “It will only cost us ₹50,000 to have one of your family members killed,” the letter warned.
The letter also instructed Vikas to keep the smartwatch close to his phone at all times, hinting it would track his location.
Earlier that day, Vikas had also received a threat call but had not made much of it. After discussing the matter with his family, he approached police around 8.30pm. During questioning, Vikas mentioned that his friend Abhishek Jain had faced a similar threat and claimed to have paid ₹25 crore to save himself. This immediately raised suspicions, Gautam said.
Police identified and apprehended the 17-year-old girl, who allegedly confessed that her uncle, Abhishek, had instructed her to deliver the package. Abhishek was arrested on April 18, and Sachin Jain was picked up soon after for allegedly arranging a man to make the threatening call for ₹35,000.
The conspiracy began unravelling with Abhishek’s interrogation. Investigators said he had started a hotel chain that failed, leaving him heavily in debt, including ₹1.5 crore owed to Vikas. “To make his plan believable, Abhishek had earlier told Vikas he had received a similar threat and had paid off the extortionists,” an investigator said. Abhishek allegedly hoped Vikas would turn to him for help and, in gratitude, forgive the debt.
To set up the ruse, Abhishek purchased a plastic prosthetic thumb for ₹3,500 online and a smartwatch for ₹500 from a Dilshad Garden shop. He typed the threat letter on his mobile phone and got it printed at a local store, police said.
“He wanted Vikas to believe that keeping the smartwatch close would allow extortionists to track him,” Gautam said.
The FIR was registered under Section 308(5) (extortion) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, officials said.
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