Gujarat ATS book 5 for trying to extort Rs. 8 crores from Retd. IPS

Gandhinagar: Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) today arrested five people on charges of plotting to extort Rs 8 crore from a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer by fabricating and spreading false information that he had raped a woman, according to an ATS official.

The suspects have been named as G K Prajapati, his accomplices Haresh Jadav and Mahendra Parmar, and self-proclaimed journalists Ashutosh Pandya and Kartik Jani from Gandhinagar. The ATS started investigating the matter after an affidavit from the alleged victim, claiming that a former senior IPS officer had sexually assaulted her, went viral on social media. The ATS discovered that the woman had signed the document after being coerced by the accused, who used the false information to try and extort money from the retired officer. When their attempts to pressure him failed, they reached out to the ‘journalists’ to help circulate the information.

Accused G K Prajapati, who was a member of the State OBC (Other Backward Class) Morcha of the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party has been suspended with immediate effect from the party by the state chief CR Patil due to his misconduct.

All five individuals have been transferred to the Sector-7 police in Gandhinagar for further investigation and have been charged under IPC sections 389 (putting a person in fear of accusation of offence in order to commit extortion) and 120B (criminal conspiracy). DeshGujarat