Ex-cop held on extortion charge

Tribune News Service

Mohali, October 20 

The local police have arrested a former constable of the Punjab Police for threatening and extorting money from a Delhi resident by impersonating a sub-inspector.

The accused, Ranjit Singh (48), a resident of Phase 9, Mohali, has been arrested on the complaint of Rajiv Arora, a resident of Indra Vikas Colony, Delhi. 

In his complaint, Arora had alleged that the accused, along with his accomplices, extorted money from him by threatening him with a police case. The accused had demanded Rs 20 lakh from him. The accused told him told that he had to give Rs 10 lakh to his seniors, including a senior superintendent of police and the Director-General of Police. 

Giving details, Inspector Tarlochan Singh, Station House Officer (SHO), Sohana police station, said as per the complainant, Ranjit Singh impersonated as Punjab Police sub-inspector and extorted money from him near a mall at Sector 66 here on September 13 this year. 

“The accused first went to the office of the complainant at Delhi and threatened him,” said Inspector Tarlochan Singh, adding that his (Ranjit) other accomplices have been identified as Sukhpal Singh and Kuldip Singh.

According to the police Ranjit Singh, who originally hailed from Saniyal village in Amritsar, was working as a constable of the Punjab Police until he was dismissed in 2011. His wife is a government teacher. 

A case under Sections 419, 420 and 386 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against the accused at the Sohana police station. 

The police claimed that as many as four cases have already been registered against the accused at police stations in Jammu and Kashmir, Zirakpur, Tarn Taran and Nawanshahr.