E-Paper
Man who tried to extort ₹31 lakh from Chandigarh trader jailed
A resident of Sector 24, Panchkula, the convict had tried to extort money from the owner of Chief Boot House, Sector 17, Chandigarh, in 2014
Observing that undue sympathy in such cases will not only lead to miscarriage of justice but also undermine the confidence of public in efficacy of justice system, a local court has sentenced a man to three-year jail for trying to extort ₹31 lakh from a shoe store proprietor in Sector 17 in 2014.
Dismissing his prayer for leniency, the court of judicial magistrate Parmod Kumar also imposed a fine of ₹500 on the convict, Jasvir Singh, a resident of Sector 24, Panchkula.
Had posed as Babbar Khalsa International member
The victim, Gagandeep Singh, a resident of Sector 15, Chandigarh, is the proprietor of Chief Boot House in Sector 17.
He had told the police that on September 13, 2014, DTDC courier delivered a letter, with Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) mentioned as the sender.
The letter read that “Waheguru” had chosen him to do the “meharbani of doing sewa” of handing BKI ₹31 lakh. The letter had added that a “sewadar” will reach the shop at 5 pm and warned him of severe consequences if he didn’t pay up. The letter stated that it was written by one Palvinder Singh Hira at Golden Temple, Amritsar, and also contained the logo of the Khalistan Liberation Force.
The alarmed shopkeeper had immediately approached the police and a case under Section 387 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Sector-17 police station.
Following investigation, police had traced the accused, Jasvir Singh, who had hired two taxi drivers, Ranjit Singh and Gurcharan Singh, in Solan to collect the money for him.
20 witnesses examined
The accused was charge-sheeted on June 13, 2016, but claimed innocence and opted for trial. To prove his guilt, the prosecution examined 20 witnesses. This included a handwriting expert from CFSL. Police also established that the accused had printed BKI posters and pasted them in Sector 17. A DTDC official examined by the prosecution revealed that similar letters were also sent to two more shops.
The prosecution had to be closed by court order, as six years had elapsed since the charges were framed, and the prosecution had not been able to conclude its entire evidence.
Meanwhile, the accused’s defence argued that no official from DTDC courier company was examined to prove that the envelope was actually received by the complainant on his business premises.
The defence further argued that the sender of the letter was Palvinder Singh Hira, as written on the envelope, and the accused was not arrested while receiving any sum from the complainant.
However, the court observed that the CFSL report proved that the accused was connected with the present occurrence. The court further observed that for Section 387 of the Indian Penal Code to apply, attempt to commit extortion may proceed so far as to put a person in fear of injury or there may be an attempt to excite such fear, but there may not be any delivery of property. Finding that the ingredients had been duly proved, the court convicted him and sentenced him to three-year imprisonment.
