Extortion racket busted,two held; kingpin,cop on run

Police arrested Ruby,in her early 20s,Gurmeet Singh,in his mid-30s,from outside a hotel in Phase I late Sunday night. However,the kingpin,Vanita alias Tania and an Assistant Sub-Inspector of Punjab Police Faqir Chand,posted in Fatehgarh Sahib,are yet to be arrested,a senior police official said. He said the cop was waiting at some distance fled in a car when he saw his accomplice were attested.

Ruby told the police she was married and had a 18-month-old daughter. She hailed form Haridwar and presently lived in Phase X. She said she got involved in the racket around three month ago when she had approached Tania for a job as masseur on reading an advertisement in a newspaper. “She called me in Sector 17,Chandigarh,and told me she would call me whenever she will required my services and pay accordingly.”

She said Gurmeet used to pick her up and leave her at a hotel,house or any other place where she was called. “During the massage session,Gurmeet used to accompany the cop and would pretend to raid the place and extorted money from the customer while threatening him to implicate in police case,” she said.

Besides cash,ornaments and other valuables,the extortionists would take away ATM and credit cards.

From Ruby’s purse,the police claimed to have recovered two bank transaction slips,wherein she had transferred Rs 48,000 to her husband in the last three months.

Investigations revealed several other young girls and women were also involved in the racket. Police teams have been dispatched to the suspected hideouts of Tania and the cop.

The two have been booked under Sections 3894 (extortion),389 (putting person in fear of accusation of offence in order to commit extortion) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and were produced before a local court on Monday.