Miscreants burn house and café to extort ‘goonda tax’ in Indore
India Today
Two miscreants set fire to a cafe and a house in the Chandan Nagar area of Indore when the cafe owner refused to give them the extortion money.
In the name of collecting ‘goonda tax’, two youths set fire to a café and a house in the Chandan Nagar area when the café owner refused to give them money. The accused first set the shop on fire and, when the victim complained to the police, they entered the victim’s house late on Saturday night, poured petrol and set it on fire.
According to the police, Mushtaq Patel runs Chai Sutta and Yari Café in the Chandan Nagar area. Sikander Balbali and Sohail used to roam around the area to collect a ‘goonda tax’ of Rs 5,000 every month from Mushtaq.
They used to visit Mushtaq’s cafe and demand taxes from him. After the dispute on Saturday, as soon as Mushtaq closed his café and left for home, both the accused poured petrol on the café and set it on fire.
Mushtaq said that, counting both the house and the café, he had incurred a loss of Rs 10 lakh. The café was the family’s only source of income.
Mushtaq alleged that the accused targeted the shop on Saturday and, when he complained against both of them at the police station, they attacked his house and set it on fire in the night.
Vehicles and goods kept in the house were set ablaze. Mushtaq also alleged that the miscreants had threatened to kill him many a time.
After the incident, the police have deployed some policemen outside the victim’s house in the Chandan Nagar area till the arrest of the accused.
