Ghaziabad constable’s suicide: Women admit blackmailing with rape case threat

Police arrested the two women on Wednesday for allegedly abetting the police constable’s death and also for extorting money from him

Ghaziabad: The two women arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide of a 32-year-old police constable in Ghaziabad have admitted during interrogation to having blackmailed him for money over the past two years after allegedly threatening to implicate him in a fake rape case, senior officers said on Thursday.

The on-duty constable, a native of Bulandshahr, allegedly shot himself with his service rifle at Muradnagar municipal council complex on Tuesday evening and left behind a video clip narrating his ordeal. (Representational image)

The on-duty constable, who hailed from Bulandshahr and resided in Ghaziabad, allegedly shot himself with his service rifle at Muradnagar municipal council complex on Tuesday evening. He left behind a three-minute video clip on his mobile phone narrating his ordeal.

Police arrested the duo he named in video – Prachi, 20, and her friend Guddan, alias Soniya, 22, (both single names) -- on Wednesday for abetment to suicide and extortion. Their accomplice, Amit Kumar, remains to be nabbed, said police.

“The arrested suspects told us that Prachi was in a relationship with the constable about three years ago. A year later, her friend Guddan and Prachi’s cousin Amit persuaded her to extort money from him as the constable was already married. After that, Prachi started demanding money from him, the constable said in the video. He paid her about ₹6 lakh over two years,” said Naresh Kumar, assistant commissioner of police, Masuri/Muradnagar circle.

The constable made most of these payments in cash, the ACP said.

“Prachi and her accomplices also threatened the deceased of implicating him in a fake rape case if he stopped paying them. Prachi is a graduate while Guddan has a bachelors in education. We are ascertaining whether Guddan and Amit also received some part of the money. The video left behind by the constable is being treated as his dying declaration and will help us build a strong case against the suspects,” Kumar said.

In the video recording, the deceased claimed that he was in a relationship with the 20-year-old woman who was his neighbour. But she, along with her friend Guddan, alias Soniya, a native of Meerut, and cousin Amit Kumar, 21, allegedly extorted about ₹6 lakh from him in the past two years.

“The woman, who lives in front of my house in Bulandshahr, entered into a relationship with me two years ago. Since then, she has been blackmailing me. She is aided by a man, Amit, who lives in the same locality. There is another woman named Guddan who is from Meerut. And, these three people are continuously harassing me. In the last two years, they have extorted about ₹6 lakh from me. When I tell them that I will lodge a police complaint, the woman says that she will trap me in a false case and I will land up in jail,” the constable said in the video clip.

Police have registered an FIR under Section 108 (abetting suicide) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at Muradnagar police station