Extortion or business dispute? Capital’s trader seeks action against alleged blackmailers

Motorcycle dealer says has been paying extortion money to group

ISLAMABAD: A trader in the capital has complained that he is being extorted by a group of armed men who were threatening to kill him unless he paid them Rs30,000 per month.

Imran Gondal, a motorcycle dealer in the Karachi Company area, has filed a complaint with the police that he had been paying extortionists — claiming to be associated with an alleged land grabber in Islamabad — for about 18 months. But when he stopped paying them recently, the men started threatening him.

“About a year and a half ago, a man came to my shop and introduced himself as Raja Mohsin and claimed that he belonged to the Taji Khokhar group,” Gondal said in his complaint to Karachi Company police.

He went on to accuse Moshin of saying, “Khan Sahib has divided areas amongst people of his group who collect money from businessmen in their respective areas and ‘help them’ [businessmen] during difficult times.”

Gondal added that Mohsin proceeded to threaten him unless he paid up. “If you don’t do what I say, you will suffer. Nobody in Islamabad dares challenge ‘Baray Khan Sahib’. Otherwise, you will face difficulties in your business,” Gondal quoted Mohsin as saying. The trader said that the man returned two days later, armed with a pistol, and demanded the extortion money.

Ever since, Gondal said, he has been paying Mohsin Rs30,000 every month.

However, after a year and a half, Gondal told Mohsin that his business was not doing well and that he could no longer. Mohsin, though, told Gondal to come up with the money and left.

“After two days, on September 22, 2016, Mohsin and four other armed men came to my shop in a car,” Gondal claimed, adding that Mohsin allegedly threatened to kill him if he failed to pay up in two days and left.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2016.