Two held for demanding Rs 100 crore from BCCI functionary

NEW DELHI: A senior BCCI functionary has been receiving threat calls and emails for the last few weeks from people claiming to be members of Dawood Ibrahim's gang and demanding Rs 100 crore as protection money. Top sources claimed that the matter was taken seriously and two suspects were nabbed from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh.

The two - identified as Fateh and Shaikh — are being questioned by Delhi Police's special cell, which tracked them by monitoring the email IDs and phone numbers used to make threat calls and send emails to the BCCI functionary. The duo claimed that they were members of D-Company.

The BCCI official had approached the agencies after which numbers were put on interception as the name of India's most wanted had figured in the threats.

"Repeated calls were made to the BCCI functionary by the suspects at odd hours," said an official.

"While a team was rushed to Andhra Pradesh, the functionary's security was increased here," the official added.

The two arrested persons, said to be small-time businessmen from Nellore, are being interrogated about their links with D-Company. "Fateh and Shaikh happen to know each other and were part of the calls. They used different SIM cards to make calls on different days to the senior cricket administrator. They claimed that he will have to face serious consequences if their demands are not met," the officer said.

Sources said with the Modi government increasing pressure on D-Company and national security advisor Ajit Doval serious about taking strict action against Dawood and his associates in India and neighbouring countries, the gang was trying to scale up its activities.

Indian agencies, including Enforcement Directorate, are reportedly stalling all financial routes of D-Company, so that it can be crippled.