Nadar (20), who had come to Mumbai with dreams of making it big, initially worked with a coconut vendor at Nariman Point. But he was soon disappointed because he couldn't earn much money. Once he overheard two persons speaking his mother-tongue Tamil and discussing the strategy of successful extortion. Convinced that it was a good way to earn money, he wrote a letter to a businessman demanding Rs 50,000. He asked the trader to hand over the amount to him at a juice shop. But when the businessmen lodged a complaint with Antop Hill police, a trap was laid for Nadar and he was nabbed near the juice shop.

Peter D'Costa, a science graduate, had one aim in life: financial success. But whenan executive posting in a city firm didn't help too much, he decided to get into the most lucrative business of the day, extortion.

After doing some homework, D'Souza made threatening calls to a jeweller. Identifying himself as a top gun from a gang, he asked for Rs 5 lakhs and warned the jeweller that if he didn't give it in three days, he wouldn't live to see the fourth. D'costa was arrested by the anti-extortion cell of Mumbai police.

Last week too, three youths without criminal records were arrested for extortion. One of them, Sunil Tawde, had planned to get married with the help of the ill-gotten money. He had threatened Bhandup-based businessman Ketan Rupani in May this year and demanded Rs 5 lakhs from him. Rupani then paid Rs three lakhs in installments, but when Tawde demanded more money, he approached police. Tawde's interrogation revealed he was to get married on Wednesday with the help of the money he extorted from Rupani.

L T Marg police arrested two men for allegedly demanding Rs 25 lakhfrom a share-broker Hemchand Jain. They had asked Jain to drop Rs one lakh near the main gate of S K Patil Garden, Charni Road. Police arrested them when they came there to collect the money.