Enforcement in-charge of Covid team arrested for extorting money from spa owners in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar

New Delhi, August 26

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The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Delhi government has arrested the enforcement in-charge of a Covid team and a civil defence volunteer for allegedly threatening spa owners at Lajpat Nagar and extorting Rs 50,000 from them, officials said on Thursday.

They said enforcement in-charge of Southeast Delhi Covid team Ravinder Singh Mehra and civil defence volunteer Imran Khan had been arrested in a case registered against them.

According to an official statement, Himanshu Malik, the owner of Sutra Spa, complained to the ACB alleging that Mehra had been threatening spa owners, saying their shops would be sealed unless they paid a monthly bribe.

The spa owners had valid licences and were following all Covid protocols, the complaint said.

It was alleged that Rs 3 lakh per month was demanded from the spa owners by the accused, but it was negotiated to Rs 1 lakh.

On August 25, an ACB team laid a trap at JPM Hotel in East of Kailash, and nabbed the accused while they were receiving Rs 50,000 from the complainant in a hotel room as the first instalment of the bribe money, ACB Special Commissioner SK Gautam said.

“The accused shut themselves inside the toilet and flushed down the bribe amount of Rs 50,000. However, Rs 25,000 was recovered from the toilet pot after breaking the toilet seat,” he said. PTI