Ajitabh Datta (25), a student of the Narsee Monjee College of Management and Naman Mishra, a business management student at the Chetana College, Bandra are now cooling their heels in Santacruz lock-up. "We had read about extortion in the newspapers and for us it all began as a joke," said Datta. "We thought we had the brains to carry it off...we never thought anything would go wrong," added Mishra.

Their confidence seems reasonable considering that nothing had gone wrong in their lives thus far. Coming from respectable families (Mishra's father is the chief standing counsel inAllahabad High Court, while Datta's father is a lawyer-turned-pharmacist), both had fared exceptionally well in studies. An arts graduate, Mishra had topped in economics in Allahabad University, while Datta, a science graduate, had topped in Kanpur University. At national level also, Datta had topped the National Talent Search (NTS) examination with a phenomenal score of 100.

Just a few months away from completing their MBAs, the two now wanted to start a garment export business. So keen was Datta to have his own business that he quit a job he had taken up with Blow Plast Ltd while completing his MBA. However, though a blueprint of their business was ready with them, they were short of the seed money - a couple of lakh of rupees. Since both lived in a hostel and had no contacts in the city the idea of approaching banks for a loan was ruled out.

It was at this juncture that they came across a newspaper report which quoted police officials saying that 90 per cent of extortions in the city, involving hugesums of money, were being carried out by amateurs who had no underworld affiliations. The desperadoes were taking advantage of the fear created by underworld gangs, the report said. Suddenly, Datta and Mishra knew where the money from their business was going to come from.

So casual was their approach to the whole thing that that they decided to target Professor Rajan Saxena, Datta's teacher, just because the latter had a visiting card of Saxena which listed all his phone numbers! "I had worked with him (Saxena) on certain marketing projects and was aware of his affluence. Also, I had his visiting cards with all his numbers, so we decided to call him," Datta revealed.

Naman made the first call and identified himself as one Salim calling on behalf of one Bhai. He asked the professor to keep the Rs 10 lakh ready and await a call from Bhai. When asked why only Rs 10 lakh, Datta said matter of factly: "Because we knew that if we asked for ten we would get two."

The next call was made by Datta, "Salim neaapko phone kiya tha main Javed bol raha hun, paisa taiyyar hai na," (Salim had spoken to you, is the money ready). Thus Datta became the Bhai.

The rest of the story is now a part of police files: Saxena got in touch additional commissioner of police (north west) Rakesh Maria and a trap was laid for the two outside McDonald Restaurant, Andheri where they had asked Saxena to bring the money. Saxena arrived at the spot in his Maruti Esteem car and parked outside the restaurant. Mishra immediately called him on his mobile and asked him to pull down the tinted glasses and come out of the car. Saxena came out of the car and stood outside the McDonald restaurant. The duo then asked him to go to the High Rise restaurant in an obvious attempt at shaking off police. Outside High Rise, the duo would have walked away with money but for Saxena who recognised Datta and raised an alarm.

Datta admits that it was their over-confidence which did them in. "In retrospect, it never occurred to us that Saxena would get intouch with police," he says.

When asked as to what will they do after being released from the jail. Datta philosophically said: "We know that the society will not accept us. I may leave the city or..." his voice trailed off.