The group, said to be students from Telangana, were arrested while using “coercive tactics” to demand $100,000 from the owner of Desi Chowrastha, owned by a fellow Telugu native.

VIJAYAWADA: An incident of alleged extortion and extortion against a Telugu-owned food and restaurant store in Dallas, US, has emerged, raising concerns in the local Indian-American community.
The group, said to be students from Telangana, were arrested when they used “coercive tactics” to demand $100,000 from the owner of Desi Chowrastha, an Indian grocery store and restaurant owned by a colleague Telugu. A video of the incident went viral on social media on New Year’s Eve.
The group accused the store owner of discrepancies in the store’s scale and recorded videos to support their claims. They allegedly threatened to publish the footage on a satellite channel or upload it online if the owner did not comply with their demands. However, the shopkeeper responded with remarkable presence of mind. He discussed the problem with his friends and they decided to collect evidence before informing the police. He asked the suspected blackmailers to meet him at a local restaurant. When the group arrived, the owner and his friends recorded the interaction live and posted the evidence online to expose the extortion attempt.
The incident has sparked outrage among the Indian community in the region and embarrassed the families of the accused students in India. The students traveled to the US for training, but after completing their courses and without good offers, they may have succumbed to challenges in the job market.
The shop owner, who said he was forced to expose their misdeeds, expressed sadness over the incident. “These students not only committed a serious crime, but also ruined their careers and lives. Their actions have embarrassed their families and the larger Telugu community in the US,” he said. Local authorities are investigating the matter and further legal action may follow.