Dhanbad Congress leader arrested on charge of extortion

A local Congress leader and his two bodyguards were arrested for allegedly keeping five men in captivity at his restaurant for extortion, police said today.

The charges have been denied by Congress's Dhanbad town president Vaibhav Sinha, who has said the five men had come to his restaurant and beaten up the staff for refusing to serve beef.

Superintendent of Police Piyush Pandey told reporters here that Sinha and his two bodyguards were arrested for allegedly keeping the five captives in his restaurant yesterday and demanding Rs 20,000 extortion. He said the accused had allegedly thrashed the men and damaged their car too, the SP said.

The Congress leader also allegedly fired from his illegal pistol on restaurant window to implicate the youths, who had gone to his restaurant, the police officer said.

But, Sinha has given a different version of the incident to the Sadar police station.

He had told them that the five youths had come to the restaurant and demanded beef. When the staff refused, they beat them up, Sinha claimed.

He also claimed that when he reached to rescue his staff, the men fired on him, which hit the window of the restaurant. Sinha also handed over the two pistols to the police, claiming that the youth had fired on him using the weapons.

When the police found all the five men locked inside a room of the restaurant, they were bleeding, the SP said.

The SP said that two cases were filed against Sinha and half-a-dozen staff of his restaurant.

While the police lodged an FIR under the Arms Act, one of the five men, Shahid Iraqui, filed an FIR charging them of extortion, abduction, and looting.

Shahid said that on August 16, he had gone to the restaurant with a girl when the staff teased her. When he protested it, the staff and Sinha's bodyguards allegedly thrashed him and also seized his driving license and other cards.

The youth did not inform the police fearing family members would get the information about their affair, the police officer said.

Yesterday, Shahid along with his four friends went to the restaurant to get back his driving license and other documents. But, Sinha's bodyguards demanded Rs 20,000, which triggered the incident, the police officer said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)