Extortion racket busted in Jalandhar, ASI among 7 held

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 14

The commissionerate police busted an extortion racket with the arrest of seven persons, including an Assistant Sub-Inspector here on Friday. The police team also recovered Rs 29.70 lakh from their possession.

The accused have been identified as Paramjit Singh, who was the kingpin, Ranjit Singh of Urban Estate Phase-1, Kulwinder Singh of Begampur, Vinod Kumar of Kaki Pind and Kuldeep Singh of Qazi Mandi, Bachittar Singh and ASI Paramjit Lal.

Commissioner of Police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said Shishpal Singh, a resident of Urban Estate Phase-II, had registered a complaint alleging that Paramjit Singh along with others had come to his office and demanded financial aid for a cancer patient. They took Rs 45,000 from the complainant to extend help to the patient suffering from cancer. He said Paramjit along with his accomplices constantly kept an eye on Shishpal to know about his financial health. Bhullar said later Paramjit Singh started meeting Shishpal frequently and hatched a conspiracy to extort money from Shishpal with the help of his accomplices after finding the latter to be financially sound.

The Commissioner of Police further stated that later on the pretext of selling a plot worth Rs 1.5 crore for Rs 1 crore, the accused, Paramjit Singh, called Shishpal near the Lakkar Wala bridge near the GRP police station for signing a deal on July 26 following which the complainant along with his son Harleen went there with Rs 50 lakh.

Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said when Shishpal and his son reached there, Paramjit along with accomplices and the ASI were present and he started threatening the complainant with dire consequences that he had already served 12 years in jail and then grabbed his bag containing the cash.

Bhullar said after receiving the complaint, CIA staff-1 was kept track of the culprits and arrested Paramjit from Ludhiana’s Machhiwara and others on his revelations. The Commissioner of Police said the Paramjit had been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Hoshiarpur Court in 2008 in a kidnapping and extortion case registered by the Tanda Police in 2005.

He said he was released on parole on January 8, 2019, for three weeks but he jumped the parole period and never returned. He was declared a proclaimed offender and nowadays, Paramjit Singh was living in Machhiwara by changing name as Manpreet Singh.

He said a case under Sections 386, 420 and 120-B of the IPC was registered against the accused at the Navi Baradari police station.

Modus operandi

The Commissioner of Police said on the pretext of selling a plot worth Rs1.5 crore for Rs1 crore, the accused, Paramjit Singh, called Shishpal near the Lakkar Wala bridge for signing a deal following which the complainant along with his son Harleen went there with Rs50 lakh. When Shishpal and his son reached there, Paramjit along with accomplices and the ASI were present there and grabbed his bag containing the cash

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