A 19-year-old man, Priyanshu Pant, has been arrested for allegedly posing as Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s son and attempting to extort ₹5 lakh from BJP MLA Adesh Chauhan. The Uttarakhand police apprehended Pant from Delhi on Monday evening, while one of his two accomplices, Uvesh Ahmed, was arrested from Rudrapur in Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar district. The third accused, Gaurav Nath, is still at large.
Extortion Attempt and Arrest
According to reports, the accused called up BJP MLA Adesh Chauhan, who represents Haridwar’s Ranipur constituency, on Sunday evening. Posing as Amit Shah’s son, Jay Shah, Pant demanded ₹5 lakh as a “donation” to party funds. When Chauhan grew suspicious and questioned the caller’s identity, the accused allegedly threatened to defame him on social media.
Following the incident, Chauhan filed a complaint at Bahadarabad police station. The police launched an investigation and traced the suspect’s phone location using call detail records and IMEI tracking. After conducting multiple raids in Delhi and Ghaziabad, authorities arrested Pant and recovered the phone used for making the calls.
Not Their First Attempt
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Pramod Singh Dobal revealed that this was not the first time the accused had attempted to extort money from politicians. The trio had previously targeted two other BJP MLAs—Nainital’s Sarita Arya and Rudrapur’s Shiv Arora—offering them ministerial positions in exchange for money. Cases related to those incidents are also registered in Nainital and Rudrapur.
The police stated that the accused had planned to extort money from MLAs to fund their lavish lifestyle. While two suspects are in custody, efforts are underway to apprehend the third accomplice.
Legal Action
A case has been registered against the accused under the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and further investigations are ongoing. Authorities are also examining whether the suspects have been involved in similar extortion attempts in other states.
Sources By Agencies
