The Commissionerate Police have busted an extortion racket with the arrest of seven indulged in this crime including an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) besides seizing Rs 29.70 lakh from their possession.The accused have been identified as Paramjit Singh, who was the kingpin, Ranjit Singh of Urban Estate Phase-1, Kulwinder Singh of Begampur, Vinod Kumar of Kaki Pind and Kuldeep Singh of Qazi Mandi, Bachittar Singh and ASI Paramjit Lal.Disclosing more information, the Commissioner of Police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said Shishpal Singh, a resident of Urban Estate Phase-II, registered a complaint alleging that Paramjit Singh along with others had come to his office and demanded financial aid for a cancer patient.They have taken Rs 45,000 from the complainant to extend help to the patient suffering from cancer. He said that Paramjit along with accomplices was constantly kept vigil on Shishpal to know about his financial health.Bhullar said that later Paramjit Singh started often meeting Shishpal and hatched a conspiracy to extort money from Shishipal with the help of his accomplices after finding Shishpal financially sound.
The Commissioner further stated that later on the pretext of selling a plot worth Rs 1.5 crore in Rs 1 crore, the accused Paramjit Singh called Shishpal near Lakkar Wala bridge near GRP police station for signing the deal on July 26 following which the complainant along with his son Harleen went there with cash worth Rs 50 lakh.Commissioner of Police revealed when Shishpal and his son reached, Paramjit along with accomplices including the said ASI was present and he started threatening the complainant with dire consequences that he had served 12-years in the jail and grab the bag containing the cash.Bhullar said that after receiving the complaint, CIA staff-1 was put behind the culprits and arrested Paramjit from Ludhiana’s Machhiwara and others on his revelations.The Commissioner of Police said that the Paramjit had sentenced to life imprisonment by a Hoshiarpur Court in 2008 in kidnapping and extortion case registered by Tanda Police in 2005.He said that he had stepped out the Jail on January 8, 2019, on parole of three-weeks but he jumped the parole period and never returned back. He was declared Proclaimed Offender and nowadays, Paramjit Singh was living in Machhiwara by changing name as Manpreet Singh.A case under sections 386, 420 and 120-B of IPC against the accused in Navi Baradari Police Station, he said and added the accused would be taken on police remand for further quizzing.