Delhi: NGO Love Commandos chief held for ‘keeping couples they rescued confined, extortion’

“A case under sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 384 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (insulting modesty of women) of the IPC has been registered against Sachdev. The couples have been moved to a shelter home,” said a senior officer.

Apart from Sachdev, the woman named Harsh Malhotra, chief coordinator of the NGO, and members Rajesh Malhotra, Govind and Sonu in the complaint. She alleged: “When my partner said we couldn’t give any more money, Harsh threatened him and said they would send me back to my family and he would face jail. We were scared.” She said the accused threatened to burn their marriage certificate if their demands were not met.

She also claimed the four couples were made to clean Harsh’s house — which is opposite to the shelter home — and regularly take the accused’s three pets out for a walk.

“If we refused, he would abuse us, threaten to get their dogs to bite us. When we said we wanted to leave, Sonu and Govind locked us in a room,” alleged the woman.

On Wednesday afternoon, the shelter was locked. “These allegations are baseless. When we get people married, it costs us money, and that’s all we asked for. We took them out for a New Year party in the lane — they all seemed happy and could have run away. Men and women sleep in different rooms at the shelter, and recently we found a used condom in the house and searched their bags. We even allowed the couples to sleep together. This is a conspiracy,” said Harsh over the phone.

DCW Chief Swati Maliwal claimed the “condition of the shelter home was disgusting, and all four couples alleged money was extorted. Some told us Rs 80,000-Rs 1 lakh was taken from them.”