Journalism of Courage
A policeman is on the run after it emerged that he allegedly used honey traps to extort money from businessmen. Police have launched a hunt for the accused policeman posted at the Moti Nagar police station in West Delhi.
Last week, a businessman from Rohini complained to police that a policeman and two women associates were extorting money from him by threatening to post “obscene” pictures of him on social networking sites. The businessman had paid them Rs 2 lakh, but they wanted Rs 3 lakh more, he told police.
“The businessman told police that some weeks ago, he got a call from an unknown number. The caller, a woman, started calling him frequently,” a police officer said.
A few days ago, the woman allegedly asked the businessman to meet her at her residence in Rohini. “On reaching the address, the businessman found two women there — the woman who allegedly called him and another woman, who said she was her roommate. They allegedly clicked obscene pictures of the businessman. In the meanwhile, a man posing as an officer of the Crime Branch arrived there. He said he had come to raid the place,” the officer said.
Police suspect the man posing as the Crime Branch officer was the accused policeman who allegedly ran the honey trap racket.
The man, posing as the Crime Branch officer, told the businessman that one of the women had lodged a rape case against him. Scared, the businessman pleaded that he be let off.
“The policeman then told the businessman that he would let him go if he paid him Rs 5 lakh. The businessman arranged Rs 2 lakh. They let him go, but asked him to pay the rest too,” the officer said.
Over the past few days, the businessman received several calls from the accused, who warned him that if he did not pay the rest Rs 3 lakh, “obscene” pictures of him would be posted on social networking sites.
At first, the businessman hid all this from his wife, but later spoke about it to her and then approached police. “On the basis of the victim’s complaint, a case was registered under Sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 384 (extortion), 506 (criminal conspiracy) and 34 of the IPC at Rohini (South) police station. Police then raided the flat where the businessman had been called. But the accused had left the place before the raid,” a senior police officer said.
Looking for leads, police examined footage from a CCTV camera at a neighbour’s house. The accused was identified as Narender, earlier posted with the special staff of West Delhi.
