Hyderabad Man Held on Charges of Extorting Builder Using Threats and Social Media

Overview

• Dabeerpura police arrested 57-year-old Habeeb Ali Baghdadi after a builder from Azampura filed a complaint alleging repeated harassment and a demand for payment of ₹50 lakh.
• The complaint says the accused twice visited a Kaladera construction site, once displaying a knife and later threatening the builder and the watchman to pressure payment.
• Police describe his alleged modus operandi as identifying suspected violations, photographing properties, posting the images on social media while tagging civic and government authorities, and then threatening to lodge complaints or seek demolition unless paid.
• Officials recorded the case under Sections 329(4), 308(6), 351(2) and 352 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and noted the suspect is a history-sheeter with prior cases from 2017–2023.
• Investigators are probing the extortion claims, the suspect’s past cases, and the social-media tactics used to pressure builders, a pattern that could expose how regulatory processes are exploited for coercion.