Mumbai: The Mumbai police on Saturday arrested a 19-year-old from Telangana and a 21-year-old from Gujarat for allegedly sending multiple threatening emails to Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani.
Ambani had received five emails the last week, in which the sender demanded money from him and threatened to kill him if he failed to pay the ransom, the police said.
The 19-year-old who was arrested was identified as Ganesh Ramesh Vanaparthi and said that he sent a threatening email demanding Rs 500 crore at around 10.32 am on November 1 said Gamdevi police.
Vanaparthi was produced before a local court and remanded in police custody till November 8.
“It appears that it is mischief committed by the teenager. Our investigation is underway and we will try to get to the root of the matter,” a senior Mumbai police official said, reported The Indian Express.
The second accused was arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch and is a BCom graduate from Gujarat, the police said. “We have arrested a Gujarat-based individual who was handling shadabkhan@mailfence.com and sending threat emails to the industrialist,” a senior police official from the Mumbai Crime Branch said reports The Indian Express.
According to the Gamdevi police, Vanaparthi's location was traced through the IP address of his email ID. Subsequently, a team was dispatched to S R University in Warangal, where he was apprehended.
The police team checked his mobile phone, leading to the recovery of an email sent from his personal account, demanding Rs 500 crore.
“The mail had been deleted from his Sent folder. When we checked his email in detail, we recovered that email from his Trash folder,” the police informed the court on Saturday.
Vanaparthi’s mobile phone and laptop have been seized, the police said.
The first threatening email allegedly sent to Ambani on October 27 by one Shadab Khan reads, “If you (Ambani) do not give us Rs 20 crore, we will kill you, we have the best shooters in India.”
Ambani received another email, in which the sender alleged that as they had failed to act upon the first email, they wanted Rs 200 crore. “If the demands are not fulfilled, a death warrant will be issued (to Ambani),” the second email reads.
On Monday, it was reported that the extortionist had sent a third email to Ambani’s official email id demanding Rs 400 crore. He then received two more such emails, on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“While all the other emails were sent from shadabkhan@mailfence.com, one of the recent emails was sent from a Gmail account, ganeshvanaparthi91@gmail.com,” an officer said.