Scribe among 3 held for blackmailing dhaba owner in Ludhiana

One of the accused claimed to be a scribe and told a dhaba owner in Ludhiana that he had a video of his employees disposing of water in pits, which would contaminate underground water; blackmailing him, they asked for ₹1 lakh to not release the video and defame his eatery

Three people, including a scribe, have been arrested for blackmailing a dhaba owner in Jagraon.

The scribe claimed to be associated with a web channel and blackmailing the dhaba owner said he would expose him through a video unless he had him a lakh. However, the deal was settled at ₹70,000. Later, the Ludhiana police recovered the cash. (Representative Image/HT File)

The accused claimed that they had video of his employees disposing of discharge in pits and polluting underground water. They said they would release the video and defame his eatery, unless he paid them ₹1 lakh.

The accused are Gursewak Singh of Ferozepur, Harjinder Singh of Moga and Lakhwinder Singh of Ferozepur. The police have recovered ₹70,000 cash and a Hyundai i-20 car from their possession.

An FIR was lodged on the statement of Paraminder Singh alias Raja, owner of Raja Dhaba on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur Road near Aligarh village in Jagraon.

Parminder said the accused had turned up at his eatery in a car and started recording a video of his dhaba. One of the accused, Harjinder Singh, said he was the editor of a web channel and accused him of polluting underground water by throwing discharge from his eatery in pits. They also claimed that they had filmed his employees while they were throwing the water.

Parminder gave them ₹70,000, but also informed the police. Assistant sub-inspector Baljinder Kumar, who is investigating the case, said a case had been registered under Sections 384 (extortion), 383 ( threaten to publish a defamatory libel) , 419 ( cheating by personation) , 420 (cheating) and 506 ( criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.