In a joint operation, the Khajuraho ( in Madhya Pradesh) and Patna police have arrested a youth for threatening Bageshwar Dham saint Dhirendra Shastri in the name of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, an official said.
The accused is identified as Aakash Kumar, 23, a native of Shankardih village in Bihar's Nalanda district, who was living in a rented accommodation in Patna's Kankarbagh locality.
He was arrested on Friday and the CBI officers have produced him before the Khajuraho district court on Saturday.
The accused had used darknet to send two emails in November this year and demanded Rs 10 lakh as extortion from saint Dhirendra Shastri.
The Khajuraho police took the help of CBI and internet to trace the location of the accused.
"The accused sent the first email on November 19 and asked Dhirendra Shastri to pay an extortion amount of Rs 10 lakh within 24 hours. As Shastri refused to pay the amount, the accused sent another email on November 22 with the same demand following which Shastri immediately lodged an FIR with the Khajuraho police. As the matter is related to Dhirendra Shastri, the case was immediately transferred to the Cyber cell of Khajuraho police but its officials failed to trace the location as they did not have access to the darknet. Then Khajuraho police took the help of CBI which is a partner of Interpol. The Interpol officials then helped Khajuraho police to trace the IP address of the computer used by the accused to send email through darknet."
"We have registered an FIR under Section 382 of the IPC for threatening to kill Dhirendra Shastri via an email. The accused also demanded an extortion amount of Rs 10 lakh. We have taken the help of CBI and Interpol to trace the location of the accused and nabbed him," said Salil Sharma, Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Khajuraho police, who was leading the raid.
The officer added that the accused is well-versed about the computer, internet and various softwares. He used darknet to hide his IP address from the computer, Sharma said.
The preliminary investigation revealed that the accused has no connection with dreaded gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
Further investigation is underway.