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Panchkula extortion racket: Fresh FIR against kingpin’s son
The case was registered following a complaint by a resident of Sector 4, Panchkula, whose son was the business partner of Akash Bhalla, son of Anil Bhalla, the kingpin of the Panchkula extortion racket
Police have lodged another FIR against Akash Bhalla, son of Anil Bhalla, the kingpin of the Panchkula extortion racket.
The case was registered following a complaint by Harinder Kaur of Sector 4, Panchkula, whose son, Sikander Singh Sangwan, was Akash’s business partner.
In her complaint to the Panchkula DCP on April 28, Harinder had stated that her son had a bank account at ICICI Bank, Sector 16, Panchkula, for his firm, AS Hospitality.
In February 2018, his business partner, Akash, forged her son’s signature on four cheques and transferred ₹61 lakh to his personal account.
She alleged that she had filed a complaint in this regard with the then DCP as well, but no FIR was lodged.
Following her complaint, police booked Akash under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code at the Sector-14 police station.
Earlier, on June 9, police had also booked Akash for selling Sikander’s SUV by forging the car’s documents while he was away at Canada in September 2018.
On the run since the extortion racket was busted on May 27, Akash was arrested from his hideout in Meerut on June 10.
Co-accused gets bail
Meanwhile, a district court granted bail to another accused in the extortion racket case.
The accused, Gaurav Pawah, 28, is the brother-in-law of Sahil Bhalla, another son of kingpin Anil Bhalla.
A resident of Zirakpur, Gaurav was arrested with his sister Anjali Bhalla and Anil’s wife Anju Bhalla in Sector 2 on May 30, three days after Anil’s arrest.
The trio were allegedly caught with ₹4.63 crore in cash, two unlicensed .12-bore pistols, three magazines, 11 bullets and 697 gm opium, besides a bunch of gold jewellery. Gaurav had since been in judicial custody at Ambala jail.
In his bail plea, Gaurav said the FIR against him and his family members was registered on false, bogus and concocted facts.
He said there was a money dispute between Anil and Sanjeev Garg, on whose complaint Anil was arrested on May 27. Anil had given ₹50 lakh to Sanjeev and his wife, however, they committed fraud with him, he alleged.
Pawah also claimed that when he was arrested with his sister and her mother-in-law, police placed weapons and narcotics in their bags, and showed them as recovery.
The court observed that the alleged narcotic substance was in non-commercial quantity and no further recovery was to be effected from Gaurav.
Stating that further investigation and conclusion of trial will take a long time and further confinement of the accused will not serve any purpose, the court allowed Gaurav’s bail application on furnishing of bail bond of ₹1 lakh.
The court also directed that the accused shall not influence the witness, tamper with the evidence or leave the country without prior permission.
