E-Paper
₹1-crore extortion case: Now, another Chandigarh cop sacked
The accused, identified as Shiv Kumar, has been dismissed from service for allegedly playing a crucial role in the crime; he was arrested from police lines in Sector 26, Chandigarh, where he reached on Wednesday morning
Making the third arrest in the case in which police booked a sub-inspector (SI), along with six others, for kidnapping a Bathinda-based businessman and extorting ₹1.01 crore from him on August 4, Chandigarh Police on Wednesday arrested another constable, who is deployed as the personal security officer (PSO) of Parveen, brother of slain gangster Sonu Shah.
The accused, identified as Shiv Kumar, has been dismissed from service for allegedly playing a crucial role in the crime. He was arrested from Sector 26 police lines where he reached on Wednesday morning.
“He reached the police lines to mark his attendance, following which he wanted to escape and apply bail in a local court, showing that he was present at work. Before his escape, he was apprehended,” an officer said. Parveen is also a co-accused in the case and remains at large.
Since the victim, Sanjay Goyal, filed a complaint on August 5, police have arrested three accused, including two constables — Shiv and Varinder, deployed at a beatbox in Sector 40 — and Barjinder Singh Gill, alias Ankit, who deals in shares and allegedly called the accused cops to reach Sector 40, where the money was extorted.
According to police, both the constables accompanied absconding SI Naveen Phogat, when he extorted ₹1.01 crore from the victim, who deals in wholesale of split chickpeas (chana dal) in Bathinda.
Meanwhile, Phogat, along with other accused, including Sarvesh of Bathinda, who is into the business of currency exchange, and Jitender, who runs an immigration consultancy in Aerocity, Mohali, continue to evade arrest.
On August 4, the accused, with an aim to extort ₹1 crore, called the Bathinda-based businessman to Chandigarh, offering to exchange ₹2,000 currency notes at a profit of 5%. When the complainant brought ₹1.01 crore to Chandigarh on insistence of his friend, Sarvesh, the accused extorted the amount by faking a raid.
They threatened to kill him and implicate him in false arms and drugs cases, following which he lodged a complaint at the Sector 39 police station, where SI Phogat was posted.
He had run into Phogat, who had returned ₹75 lakh to him in exchange for maintaining silence, before escaping from the station. The ₹75 lakh were later recovered by police.
