Union Minister V K Singh’s wife Bharti Singh filed a police complaint against a property dealer at the Tughlaq Road police station alleging that he was trying to extort Rs 2 crore from her by blackmailing her with “doctored” audio-video clips to defame her husband. V K Singh is a Minister of State for External Affairs in the Modi government.
Senior police officers of the New Delhi district said that in Bharti Singh’s complaint lodged at Tughlaq Road police station, the woman alleged that Pradeep Chauhan, her nephew’s friend, threatened her of “dire consequences” if the money was not paid to him. Following which, Delhi Police registered an FIR under Sections 384 (extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation) on August 12.
According to a senior cop, Pradeep Chauhan, a resident of Gurgaon has joined the investigation. On being asked if Chauhan has been arrested, an officer said: “We have initiated investigation into the matter. Chauhan has been questioned once. He will be called for the second round of questioning soon. He has not been arrested yet.” A senior officer said that Chauhan claimed that he has some videos also, a charge that is still being verified. Singh’s wife also claimed that the man carries a licensed revolver and has been threatening her family. On this, cops said that they have registered an FIR and all claims and counter-claims are being verified. Bharti in her complaint mentioned that Chauhan has been threatening to make public the “doctored” audio and video clips, contents of which were not known to her, added the officer. The accused allegedly called her several times and threatened her to “ruin” her husband’s reputation. He allegedly called her repeatedly on the night of August 6.
Bharti also alleged in her complaint that the accused had posted a video on Youtube levelling false allegations against her husband and family. However, a senior cop said that so far, they have not been able to find any video posted on YouTube by Chauhan.
Addressing the media, Bharti Singh’s lawyer Vishwajeet Singh said: “The person was known to the family. He was making extortion calls for quite some time now. We have lodged an FIR with the police, he has been called for questioning once. As far as the video is concerned, if he possesses one, it must be a doctored one.”