Digital news channel head held for extortion in Delhi

An advocate told the police that the alleged extortionists were threatening to defame him by uploading a sting operation conducted against him on their news portal if he did not pay them Rs 5 crore

A 37-year-old man operating a digital news channel from Noida has been arrested for allegedly attempting to extort Rs 5 crore from a South Delhi-based advocate by threatening to upload a sting operation that was conducted on him, police said on Friday. The alleged extortionist Afsar Ali alias AK Chaudhary has previously been involved in three crimes, including vehicle theft and cheating, registered against him in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh between 2010 and 2015, the police said.

Representational Photo.

Deputy commissioner of police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur said that Ali was arrested following an extortion case registered recently at the Greater Kailash police station on the complaint of an advocate, who alleged that he had been receiving extortion calls. The advocate told the police that the alleged extortionists were threatening to defame him by uploading a sting operation conducted against him on their news portal if he did not pay them Rs 5 crore, said Thakur. The police have withheld the complainant’s name.

During the probe, the DCP said, the investigating team learnt that the suspect and his associates had also visited the complainant’s office and tried to get details about his family members. Investigators scanned the CCTV camera footage of the office and obtained the suspect’s photograph.

“Through technical and manual investigation we identified the suspect as Afsar Ali and learnt that he was running a news portal in Noida. We arrested Ali after collecting details about his whereabouts,” said DCP Thakur, adding that Ali confessed to the crime during the interrogation.

Explaining the modus operandi, DCP Thakur said that Ali, in connivance with his associates, who are job seekers, would identify prospective targets on the basis of their lavish life style and cars they owned. They used to conduct detailed reconnaissance of the targets and met them posing as buyers of farmhouse land, he said.

“While carrying out the deal, the alleged extortionists would conduct a sting operation. Thereafter, based on the person’s financial condition, they would try to extort the person for money was raised and intimidate them,” added the DCP.