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Journalist row: Four more FIRs against accused
Noida
Noida
The Noida Police has registered four fresh FIRs against a journalist who was arrested along with three others last week for allegedly spreading fake news.
On August 24, five journalists—three from Noida and one each from Ghaziabad and Lucknow —were booked under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986.
The police arrested four of them for allegedly spreading fake news against police personnel through their web portals.
Sushil Pandit, Udit Goel and Raman Thakur are from Gautam Budh Nagar while Chandan Rai is from Ghaziabad. Nitish Pandey is from Gomti Nagar in Lucknow.
According to the police, Raman Thakur is on the run and they have announced a reward of ₹25,000 on his arrest.
Rai was booked along with his maternal cousin at the Phase 3 police station for allegedly cheating four people of nearly Rs 10 lakh on the pretext of helping them obtain flats at a government housing scheme in Ghaziabad.
“His cousin was a tenant in our house for nearly 3-4 years. In August 2015, three of my friends had come home for my son’s birthday party in which the tenant was present. He assured all of us that Chandan, his cousin, who is a Ghaziabad-based journalist, could help us procure flats in a Ghaziabad Awas Vikas scheme,” said Manish Kumar Singh, a resident of Chhajarsi in Noida.
According to the victims, an advance of Rs 30,000 each was taken by the cousin as a booking amount and they were introduced to Rai after a week.
Singh allegedly paid a total of Rs 4.05 lakh while his friends, Avinash Chandra Vats, Prem Shankar and Rishipal Singh, ended up paying Rs 3.7 lakh and Rs 1 lakh each, respectively.
“Every time we questioned them about the status of the flats, they would make some excuses. After a while the cousin moved out of our house to a different colony in Ghaziabad. Rai would abuse us and threaten us upon enquiries,” Singh said.
Based on their complaints, the two were booked under sections 420, 406, 504 and 506 of the IPC.
Police officials said the victims had been scared of coming forward with the fraud because of pressure from the accused and his alleged influence. Once news of his arrest was circulated, they filed their complaints.
“He is already in remand and is now being interrogated about the fresh charges. New facts have come to light, which will be made public soon,” said senior superintendent of police Vaibhav Krishna.
An FIR had been registered against Rai at the Beta 2 police station for allegedly duping a Ghaziabad-based businessman of Rs 5 lakh on the pretext of helping him with his political ambitions.
Rai had been booked in January 2019 for allegedly duping a Bhojpuri folk singer of ₹5 lakh, regarding which a case had been registered in Sector 20 police station.
Enquiries are on into the alleged involvement of police personnel posted in the district with Rai after a purported audio between him and an inspector was circulated on social media. From the audio, it seems the inspector had paid him Rs 2 lakh for a preferred posting.
The SSP people are being questioned, evidence is being gathered and due action will be taken soon.
The arrested men have been remanded in five days police custody till Thursday. A search is on for the fifth journalist.
