Lawyer gets extortion call from client behind bars

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 16

In a bizarre incident, an advocate got an extortion call from his own client who is lodged in the Amritsar Central Jail here. He made a phone call to the victim, Varun Kumar Mehta, from an international mobile number.

The Civil Line police have registered a fresh case against the accused, Avinash Kumar, a resident of Tagore Nagar. The CIA staff have started a probe.

Varun stated to the police that he got a call from an international mobile number on Saturday. The caller was his client Avinash. He said he has been the counsel for Avinash for two cases registered at different police stations. He has got bail in one of the cases. The accused said that the court would have granted him bail automatically after three months as the police had failed to file challan regarding the case in the court.

According to Varun, he tried explaining his side but the accused directed him to pay Rs 2 lakh to a boy, named Sunny, who would contact him soon. He threatened him of dire consequences if he failed to make the payment. He threatened that he would ‘see’ him after coming out of the jail while threatened to kill his family.

Avinash was among three persons, including a woman, booked by the Civil Lines police under Section 370 (buying or disposing of any person as a slave) and 370-A (exploitation of a trafficked person) of the IPC on April 2 this year. Others booked are Sachin Batra of Ludhiana and a woman of Tarn Taran. A separate case of running a flesh trade was also registered against him.

Vavinder Mahajan, in charge of the CIA staff, said Avinash was booked in April after a young girl lodged a complaint against him. She stated that she had met the accused during a journey and they had asked her to work for them with a promise of good earning. She had alleged that the accused used to supply girls to their customers and earn heftily. She told the police that the accused had started threatening her after she expressed her desire to disassociate herself from the business as she felt ashamed.

He said that the police would also be investigating how the accused managed to get the mobile inside the high security Central Jail. He has been operating with an international SIM in the mobile.