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Zirakpur: AAP councillor, her husband booked for extorting ₹9 lakh
The councillor, Neha Sharma, and her husband, Mani Sharma, are residents of Ward 5 in Baltana, which falls under the Zirakpur municipal council
An Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor in Zirakpur and her husband have been booked for extorting ₹9 lakh from a Panchkula resident on Saturday.
The councillor, Neha Sharma, and her husband, Mani Sharma, are residents of Ward 5 in Baltana, which falls under the Zirakpur municipal council (MC).
The complainant, Shivam Arora, said he had purchased a land in Baltana to develop a commercial building, and had got maps for the construction of the basement, ground floor and first floor cleared from the MC on April 23, 2021.
“When we started work, the councillor and her husband came to the site and had the work stopped, saying the maps had not been cleared by the municipal council. I showed them the maps, which had been passed by a competent authority, but the duo accompanied by other MC officials stopped our project, and seized our construction material,”he told the police.
On May 15, 2021, the complainant met Zirakpur municipal engineer (ME) Mukesh Ram, and apprised him of the matter. “Later, Neha Sharma and her husband met my father in Zirakpur, and told him to pay ₹15 lakh by June, if we wanted construction to continue. He told them we did not have money to spare as all of it had been invested in the project, but to no avail. Later, we agreed to pay ₹9 lakh,” he said.
The next day, the complainant’s father allegedly paid them ₹2 lakh, we paid ₹2 lakh more after three months, and ₹5 lakh was paid on the completion of the project, after which the accused threatened to have the building demolished unless they paid them ₹10 lakh.
“When we did not pay the money, the accused sent JCB machines to the site on July 29, 2022, around 11 am and demolished the building,” Arora said.
A case under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 384 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against the councillor and her husband at the Sector-5 police station in Panchkula.
Meanwhile, the councillor termed the allegations baseless.
“The shops were demolished by the MC, and we had nothing to do with it. The allegations have been levelled to defame us. If the complainant has any proof against us, he should show us.”
