Gurugram: A journalist and his female colleague who is an advocate were arrested by Gurugram police on the charges of demanding extortion from an owner in DLF Phase-3. Co-incidentally, the journalist identified as Rashpal Singh who some time back was working in a senior position in a leading English daily is also facing charges of molesting and harassing a female colleague.
According to the police, the accused namely Neelam Singh and Rashpal and the third colleague Mukesh first booked a guest house in the month of February.
They, however, did not leave the room after their time lapsed and thereby threatened the owner to pay up extortion money of Rs four crores. The police claim that Neelam went to an extent of threatening the owner of her being an advocate she will frame him in fake charges. Due to the senior position of the people involved, the owner became nervous and even paid a substantial amount to the accused.
Interestingly, charges have also been framed against the trio of adopting the same modus operandi in a guest house in Sector-53 where again they demanded the extortion money. Even though the police have made two arrests in the case, Mukesh the third person involved in the case is still at large.
The arrest has not come at a more difficult time for Rashpal who was booked under charges of molestation and grievous charges under IT act by a former colleague in February. The 42-year old journalist belongs to Kangra, Himachal Pradesh and has experience of working in top media publications.
This is not for the first time when journalists in the national capital region have been arrested for demanding extortion.
Earlier in January, three journalists namely Sushil Pandit, Udit Goyal and Raman Thakur were also arrested under the charge of extortion.
They were reportedly extorting money from a call centre owner in the name of removing the latter's name from an FIR registered in November 2018. A Mercedes car was also seized from the possession of one of the journalists. A pistol was seized from the possession of another journalist. A total of Rs 8 lakh was seized and all four
were arrested.