Three, including police constable, arrested for trying to abduct journalist in Ghaziabad
Police on Wednesday arrested a gang of three, including a constable of Delhi Police’s Home Guards, for allegedly trying to kidnap a local journalist from outside his office in Indirapuram.
Police on Wednesday arrested a gang of three, including a constable of Delhi Police’s Home Guards, for allegedly trying to kidnap a local journalist from outside his office in Indirapuram.
According to the police, the constable had allegedly invested a heavy amount and opened a spa at a mall in Indirapuram but the journalist extorted money from him which finally led him to shutdown his business.
The three were identified as constable Ankur Parashar and his two accomplices, Adil and Shabaan. Police said they had allegedly brought firearms, face masks, a car and couple of syringes with sedatives to drug their target, identified as Umesh Kumar, a local journalist. Police said the three were arrested during a checking operation at Kala Patthar in Indirapuram.
“Ankur had taken a loan and pooled in his savings as well to open the spa in June, 2018. The journalist conducted a sting operation which showed some immoral activities going on in the spa and threatened to make them viral. Later, the matter was settled for a one-time payment of ₹2.5 lakh and a monthly amount of ₹20,000, which Ankur agreed to pay to the journalist,” Shlok Kumar, superintendent of police (city), said.
“After paying up, the news spread and several people started approaching Parashar for extorting money. This was when he decided to shutdown his spa and open another one at Laxmi Nagar in Delhi. After a couple of months, this spa too was shutdown and Ankur suffered heavy losses. He was even unable to repay his loan of ₹8 lakh,” the SP added.
Police said that according to Ankur, it was Umesh’s act which had led to his business losses and decided to kidnap the latter and demand a ransom of ₹15 lakh.
“The plot was foiled. However, the journalist is also under scanner as he extorted money. There are several similar locally operating persons who had approached Ankur to demand money by threatening him. The entire lot of persons is under scanner and investigation is being taken forward now,” Shlok added.
Police have also seized the constable’s Celerio car which allegedly bore a fake registration number plate.