Narmadapuram (Madhya Pradesh): The Sohagpur police have arrested three men on charges of posing as journalists and demanding money from businessman, police said on Monday.
The police added that Rs 2 lakh have been recovered from them.
As per the statements of Sohagpur police, the complainant has been identified as Mohammad Zaki Ansari (42), who owns an electronics company in Sohagpur. Ansari stated in his complaint that a few days ago, one of his friends named Jitendra Purvia had asked him to purchase electric poles.
Ansari purchased as many as 23 electric poles from a man named Shoaib Ali and paid a sum of Rs 1.37 lakh was paid to him, while Ansari’s friends Purvia purchased iron and plastic sheets from Ali and paid Rs 7000 to him.
Ansari told the police that following this, as many as three men visited his factory on Sunday evening and began shooting videos of the goods. When he interrupted, the trio identified themselves as journalists and alleged that the goods he had purchased recently are stolen goods, regarding which, a police complaint has also been lodged.
They further blackmailed Ansari to upload the shot videos on social media and defame him. When Ansari requested them to delete the videos, they demanded Rs 6 lakh from him.
The trio again visited Ansari’s factory on Monday morning and asked for money, after which Ansari gave them Rs 2 lakh. When the trio asked for more, he asked them for some more time to arrange for the remaining sum and approached Sohagpur police after the trio left.
Swinging into action, the police swooped down on the trio who identified themselves as Wajid Khan, Pawan Soni and Rajesh Dhakad. The police recovered Rs 2 lakh from their possession and also seized their car.
