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Ludhiana: Posing as scribes, two extort money from lottery seller; booked
The complainant, Harwinder Singh, who is a resident of Baba Than Singh chowk and owns a lottery shop on Bahadur Ke road, said he was being harassed by a group who would threaten to publish reports against him on their web channels and newspaper if he did not settle on giving them a fixed amount of money every month
Police booked two persons for allegedly extorting money from a government-authorised lottery seller by posing as reporters associated with web channels.
One of the accused has been identified as Jassi, while his accomplice is yet to be identified.
The complainant, Harwinder Singh, who is a resident of Baba Than Singh chowk and owns a lottery shop on Bahadur Ke road, said he was being harassed by a group who would threaten to publish reports against him on their web channels and newspaper if he did not settle on giving them a fixed amount of money every month.
Even after him presenting documents substantiating the legality of his business, the group kept publishing false content about the shop. They would then send links for the videos, and images tarnishing the shop’s reputation and demand money in lieu of them stopping it.
Detailing the sequence of events, the complainant said three persons landed at his shop and started filming around ten days ago. They proceeded to take around ₹3,000 from the cash register along with seven lottery vouchers.
The complainant’s employee, Ginni Malhotra, who was present at the shop at the time informed him about the incident. “I reached the shop and confronted them. The accused were found in possession of identity cards of several newspapers and web channels,” he said.
He then approached the police and provided them with closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the incident.
Inspector Jatinder Singh, investigating officer, said a case under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 385 (putting a person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) has been registered against the accused at the Salem Tabri police station.
