Patna: Patna police have arrested Bablu Ram, a physically challenged youth, and his girlfriend Julie Devi for seeking ransom from sugarcane industries minister Feroz Ahmad.

Ram, 30, had on December 30 called the minister's cellphone to demand Rs 10 lakh. He then sent a text message asking Feroz to deposit Rs 10 lakh into his bank account number.

The minister lodged a complaint with the Kotwali police station. The IT cell of Patna police sprung into action. "Through call detail records, the police zeroed in on Julie, a resident of Jhajha in Jamui district. She was arrested," Patna deputy superintendent of police (DSP), law and order, Shibli Nomani said.

Julie told the police she had given her Aadhaar, PAN and other details to Bablu, who had promised to get her a job in a private firm. The police later got to know Bablu, who is physically challenged, and Julie were in a relationship for the past few months.

Based on Julie's inputs, the Bablu was arrested from Sheikhpura. They recovered Julie's documents from him.

The police also recovered documents belonging to other candidates. "Bablu is a fraud," DSP Nomani said. "He had duped several persons after promising them jobs in private and government firms."

Police sources said Bablu used to move around in a tricycle. He used to go all the way from Sheikhpura to Jhajha in his tricycle to meet Julie.

But the police are still not sure why Bablu targeted the sugarcane minister. The DSP said Bablu got the minister's number from one of his friends, but did not say why he chose to target the minister when he didn't know him.