E-Paper
Kharar trader tries to extort ₹2 crore from Patiala MC official, held
Baldev Raj Verma, an engineer with the Patiala MC, had approached the Vigilance Bureau (VB), complaining that Lal Chand, who runs a shop in Kharar, had sought ₹2 crore, including ₹50 lakh in cash and property worth ₹1.50 crore, from him to withdraw a 2015 complaint
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Tuesday arrested a Kharar-based trader for trying to extort ₹2 crore from a Patiala municipal corporation (MC) official for withdrawing a 2015 complaint against him.
Baldev Raj Verma, an engineer with the Patiala MC, had approached the Vigilance Bureau (VB), complaining that Lal Chand, who runs a shop in Kharar, had sought ₹2 crore, including ₹50 lakh in cash and property worth ₹1.50 crore, from him to withdraw a complaint.
He said Chand had submitted two complaints in 2015 and 2017, but the Vigilance Bureau had not been able to verify them after inquiries. He had eventually withdrawn the 2017 complaint, but was threatening him with the 2015 complaint.
Recording the entire conversation, Baldev promised to pay Lal Chand token money of ₹5 lakh and contacted the vigilance.
Acting on the complaint, a VB flying squad team laid a trap and arrested Lal Chand near TDI Kharar while accepting ₹5 lakh in the presence of two official witnesses.
Through subsequent searches at the accused’s house, VB recovered 70 files, various documents and a cash-counting machine, besides a laptop containing soft files regarding complaints lodged against different government officials.
When Chand was produced in court, his counsel claimed that the MC official had himself requested a meeting with his client, who never sought any money. On this, the VB submitted the transcript of the recorded phone call between Chand and Verma in which the former allegedly sought ₹2 crore.
When the court asked the accused about the cash-counting machine, he claimed that he had purchased the machine for his property dealing business. He was subsequently sent to vigilance custody till February 3.
A case under Sections 384 (extortion), 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against the accused at the VB Flying Squad-1 police station in Mohali.
A VB official said Chand was previously also booked by the Kharar City police in two different deception cases. The official added that through initial probe, they had found that the accused had filed multiple RTI queries and complaints against public servants, and later withdrew them, including one against Verma.
