KATHMANDU: A swoop of police has netted a racket of criminals being engaged in bleeding well-off families white by issuing abduction and death threats for hefty ransom over telephone.

SP Ganesh KC, in-charge, Metropolitan Police Range, Hanumandhoka said three persons identifying themselves the gangsters of Bijaya Shetthy, who is now languishing behind the bar in Central Jail under abduction case, were nabbed from Sorhakhutte on Friday night. They were arrested for issuing threats to a restaurateur that they would kill his teenage daughter in failure of paying Rs 1.5 million to them.

The accused have been identified as Bijaya Shahi alias ‘Biju Rana’, Ranjeet Lama and Rupesh Lama, all hailing from Kapilvastu. “The gangsters were rounded up, acting on a complaint lodged by the victim. They have confessed to issuing threats to the restaurateur over phone,” said SP KC.

Identity of the restaurateur and his daughter has been kept secret on the security grounds. ‘Choose one between your daughter’s life and Rs 1.5 million’ was what the gangsters said to the victim, said KC.

Police said they were working out to ascertain their involvement in other cases of abduction and ransom demand.

Upon preliminary investigation, police have established threats for dozens of time between March 28 and April 1. The accused were produced before Kathmandu District Court and have been put on trial under Attempt to Kidnapping and Donation Act.

Meanwhile, the police today busted an underground forgery racket for producing counterfeit certificates of SLC and all levels of universities in home and abroad.

Those arrested are Lekh Nath Bhattarai, hailing from Morang, Shovakar Khanal from Gulmi, Hem Chandra Dahal from Morang and Laxman Shrestha from Dhading.

A special squad of Metropolitan Police Sector, Durbarmarg dispatched on the command of Inspector Sudeep Raj Pathak had nabbed them from separate places in Kathmandu, acting on an intelligence tip off.

SP KC informed that the police have recovered a huge cache of counterfeit official rubber stamps, holograms, fake mark-sheets and character certificates of Tribhuvan University, the Office of the Controller of Examinations, HSEB, Department of Transport, Pashupati Multiple Campus, Central Board of Secondary Education (India), a hi-tech printer and a computer.

“The accused admitted that they were forging the certificates of academic qualification for the past three years,” he said. “They said each SLC and university certificates were sold at Rs 12,000”.