Noida police arrests 3 journalists for demanding Rs 8 lakhs bribe

In a midnight crackdown on bribery and extortion, a police inspector and three journalists were arrested here for demanding Rs eight lakh from a call centre owner, officials said Wednesday. The four were held inside the inspector's office at the police station after a trap was laid out to nab them red-handed with the money, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vaibhav Krishna said.

"Manoj Kumar Pant, station house officer of Sector 20 police station and journalists - Sushil Pandit, Udit Goyal and Raman Thakur - were arrested around midnight," he said. A Mercedes car has also been seized from the possession of one of the journalists, while a .32 bore pistol was recovered from another, the SSP said.

"Prima facie the car seems to be related to some criminal activity after its registration number was found fake," he said. "A total of Rs eight lakh were seized and all four have been arrested," the district police chief said.

Pushpendra Chauhan, a resident of Ghaziabad, had on January 27 approached the SSP with a complaint against the inspector and his associates, alleging that they have demanded money to get his name removed from a November 2018 case. "I had ordered a probe over the allegations, which were found true by Superintendent of Police, City, Sudha Singh. After this a trap was planned that policeman who were demanding money should be nabbed red-handed. The trap was being planned since morning yesterday and we got success late in the night," Krishna said.

Chauhan was asked to come to the police station at 12.15 pm in the night with the money. According to the plan, he was carrying 400 notes of Rs 2,000 denomination each and phenolphthalein powder was applied on every note and their numbers were already noted by officials. Apart from police, two independent witnesses, both government officials from different departments, were also involved in the operation in order to establish the reliability and authenticity of the action, he said.

"I had requested the district magistrate to nominate two officials and they were then linked with the trap-laying teams, which was lead by CO Noida 1st Kaustubh," he said, adding that trap-laying teams were formed which worked under supervision of SP (Rural) Vineet Jaiswala and SP (City) Sudha Singh. "As per the plan, the complainant, along with the witness, reached the Sector 20 police station and went inside the SHO's office, where the inspector and three journalists were present.

"When asked for the money, he handed over to them Rs eight lakh. The complainant then came out, signalled to the sleuths waiting outside, who rushed inside the SHO's office and all four were arrested at the spot," the SSP said. The accused inspector has been booked under charges of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, while the journalists have been charged under the Indian Penal Code section 384 (extortion) along with Arms Act, he said.

The SSP added that there have been reports of "raids" at call centres and "misuse" of police action to recover money illegally from them. "Action is being taken on such reports and more arrests are likely to follow," he said. Further probe is underway, while some information is not being shared owing to its sensitive nature, he added. Meanwhile, Additional SHO of Sector 20 police station, Jaiveer Singh, has been suspended for his alleged involvement in the case, the officer added.