THE Chandigarh Police booked four people including a woman for forcibly entering the house of Congress councillor from ward number 34, Gurpreet Singh, under the guise of being journalists and videographing him with an intention to blackmail him. They were identified as Satish Kumar of Yamunanagar, Rajkumar of Naraingarh, Ambala, Narinder of Panchkula and a woman from Pinjore, Panchkula. The incident took place last Saturday. The FIR was registered when Gurpreet along with other Congress councillors met DGP (UT) Praveer Ranjan on Tuesday. Earlier, the police arrested the four under preventive measures and released them on bail. Initial investigation suggests that Satish Kumar runs a two-page weekly evening newspaper in Yamunanagar. The two other men claimed to work with Satish and the woman claimed that this was the first day of her job. Gurpreet said, "Four people entered my house in Sector 45 around 8.30 am without any prior intimation. I did not welcome them. Despite that, they entered the drawing room and sat on sofas. I reminded them to take prior appointment or inform me in advance if they want an interview with me. Their attitude was different. One of them told me that they did not need any appointment for the interview. Subsequently, the woman left her seat and sat by me on my left. One of them silently started recording these moments on his cell phone. I was already suspicious. I excused myself and went inside and brought my cell phone. I started recording them and told them to get away from my house. They started threatening me with dire consequences. They left my house but were intercepted by my neighbors downstairs. Later, I called the area police from the Burail police post." Gurpreet said that he was surprised that the police let them go after merely taking preventive action against them. He said they took up the issue with DGP Ranjan, who directed to lodge an FIR in this regard. Station House Officer (SHO) Sector 34 police station, Inspector Devinder Singh, said, “We lodged the FIR as the Congress councillor Gupreet Singh gave his complaint. The suspects will be arrested shortly. We lodged an FIR under the charges of trespassing, attempt to extortion, criminal intimidation and common intention.” A case was registered at Sector 34 police station.
