Police arrested a member of a gang that is allegedly involved in running a blackmailing racket to extort money from people by threatening to implicate them in false rape cases, at Mullanpur on Tuesday.
The accused have been identified as Nikhil (alias Tanu), Bhupinder Kumar, Gurmeet Singh, Amit Sharma and Payal - all residents of Mullanpur in SAS Nagar. Mullanpur SHO NPS Lehal said the gang was extorting money by planting a girl and threatning to implicate people in false rape cases.
According to the SHO, sanitary shop owner in Mullanpur Rajinder Singh, in his complaint, has stated that a girl visited his shop on January 5 and demanded a room on rent.
After telling her about the unavailibility of the same, Rajinder accompanied her to help her in her search for a rented accommodation in the area.
The girl left after exchanging phone numbers, but called him afterwards and demanded `2,000 from him, saying that she had lost her wallet.
After an hour, he received another call from an unidentified person, who threatened him to implicate him in a case for raping the girl, Payal, who had visited his shop. Rajinder agreed to pay the caller `86,000. However, after receiving the money, he received another call with a demand for `25 lakh.
{{/usCountry}}After an hour, he received another call from an unidentified person, who threatened him to implicate him in a case for raping the girl, Payal, who had visited his shop. Rajinder agreed to pay the caller `86,000. However, after receiving the money, he received another call with a demand for `25 lakh.
{{/usCountry}}Rajinder said, “On January 9, a meeting was fixed at the Kharar local court and the matter was settled at `14 lakh. The money was handed over to the accused on 12 January.
After conducting preliminary investigation, the police have registered a case under Sections 384, 388, 389, 420, 506 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the accused. The SHO said, “The police have identified the gang members. Raids are on to nab other members of the gang.”
Meanwhile, another gang involved in blackmailing people with the same modus operandi has been identified and two gang members were arrested a few days back. Four gang members, including a girl, had extorted `11 lakh from a person in the same way and had demanded `4 lakh more.