Woman suspected to be extortion gang mastermind held after seven weeks

A woman who is suspected to be the mastermind of a gang that allegedly extorted money from a Purani Abadi, Sriganganagar resident about seven weeks ago has been arrested from Tappa Khera village near Malout. The police produced her in the court, which sent her to judicial custody.

Victim Mukesh, who serves as a manager of a bank at Malout, had lodged a complaint in this connection at the Sadar police station in Sriganganagar on August 27. A case was registered against the suspects on charges of blackmailing. Since then, Jaspreet Kaur, a resident of Odki under Hindumalkot police station, had been on the run.

Police said that other suspects Pal Singh, Sonu and Kirandeep Kaur had already been arrested in this case and they were in judicial custody. The fact that kingpin Jaspreet had been using different names came to light during investigations.

Mukesh said that he used to go by train in the morning from Sriganganagar to reach the bank and would return by train late in the evening. One day, when he reached Sriganganagar by train at night, it was raining heavily. He boarded an auto-rickshaw for his residence. In the same vehicle, a woman, who introduced herself as Rajni, took his mobile phone number to discuss the process for loan.

A few days later, she requested him to visit her house in Bapunagar for further discussions. On reaching there, some people caught hold of him and started demanding Rs 2 lakh, threatening to register a case of rape. They allegedly forced him to pay Rs 74,000. They asked him to arrange the remaining amount in four days, failing which he would face consequences.

Mukesh reported the matter to the police. After investigation, three suspects were held but Jaspreet Kaur managed to flee at that time.