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Panchkula extortion racket: Ex-Chandigarh Bar Association chief named in latest FIR
There are accusations of extortion, criminal intimidation, cheating and criminal conspiracy in the sixth FIR in the Panchkula extortion racket, which names former Chandigarh Bar Association president
The latest FIR in connection with the Panchkula extortion racket names a former president of the Chandigarh District Bar Association (DBA) as one of the accused.
There are accusations of extortion, criminal intimidation, cheating and criminal conspiracy in the sixth FIR registered by the Panchkula Police, which names former Chandigarh DBA president NK Nanda, racket’s kingpin Anil Bhalla and his business partner, Amarjeet Garg.
The FIR was registered on the complaint of Fatehabad resident Parmod Mahajan, also a business partner of Bhalla and Garg. Mahajan had stated that in May 2016, he was planning to buy a house in Sector 46, Chandigarh, for which he paid ₹10 lakh as registry amount to the house owner, Sohan Singh.
But Singh ended his life in August 2016, following which his family members accused him and some bank officials of abetment to suicide.
Aware of this, Garg offered to help him resolve the matter through Bhalla and Nanda in exchange for ₹20 lakh. Mahajan alleged that when they all met Nanda, he assured to get the FIR cancelled within minutes, as he had close connections with senior police officials in Chandigarh. Mahajan said he was told to pay ₹10 lakh of the total deal amount, which he did.
But eventually he came to know that he was never named in the suicide abetment FIR. When he sought a refund, Bhalla, Garg and Nanda threatened him, and also got him arrested on September 29, 2018. But he got bail. Later, they sent goons to his house, forcing him to escape to Fatehabad with his wife and kids.
Responding to the allegations, Nanda said he was only a legal counsel for Bhalla, who had contacted him to also help someone facing abetment to suicide charges, but he never met that person.
He alleged that the Panchkula police had been registering FIRs on the basis of complaints by Bhalla’s enemies and he had even filed a ₹1-crore defamation suit against Mahajan four months ago, after he filed a complaint against him to the Chandigarh Bar Association.
Panchkula police have been probing Bhalla’s involvement in more cases since they busted an extortion racket being run by him in connivance with an ASI. According to probe so far, Bhalla and his aides would offer loans to unsuspecting people and instead extort money by threatening to implicate them in false cases.
