Seven held for trying to blackmail Indore businessman

Seven people, including a police constable, have been arrested for allegedly extorting Rs 1 crore from a liquor businessman by threatening to leak his private photos and videos.

Police have arrested seven people, including three women and a police constable, for allegedly trying to extort Rs 1 crore from a city-based liquor businessman by threatening to make his private photos and videos public, an official said on Thursday.

One of the arrested women was also an accused in a high-profile 'honeytrap' case that came to light in 2019, police said.

The arrested persons were identified as Alka Dixit, her son Jaideep Dixit, Lakhan Choudhary, Shweta Jain, Jitendra Purohit, Reshu Choudhary and police constable Vinod Sharma.

Alka Dixit allegedly proposed a 50 per cent partnership to the complainant in a business venture, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajesh Kumar Tripathi.

''When the businessman learnt that 16-17 criminal cases were registered against Alka, he refused to enter into a partnership with her,'' the DCP said.

Alka and her associates later intercepted him in the Super Corridor area and demanded Rs 1 crore, threatening to leak his private photos and videos and implicate him in false cases if he did not pay, the complainant told police.

Shweta Jain, one of the accused, had been arrested in 2019 in connection with an organised extortion racket which targeted wealthy and influential persons using women. She met Alka in prison, DCP Tripathi said.

Based on technical evidence and interrogation of co-accused, police arrested Reshu Choudhary, a resident of Sagar, he said.

''Technical evidence suggests all three women were involved in the conspiracy to extort money from the businessman,'' the official added.

On reports linking Reshu Choudhary with the ruling BJP, the DCP said they were being verified.

No other complainant has approached police so far, but the investigators were examining the mobile phones and electronic devices seized from the accused in view of the seriousness of the case, he said.