Swindlers’ gang busted, 4 held in Ludhiana

Our Correspondent

Raikot, May 5

The Ludhiana (Rural) police today claimed to have nabbed four members of a gang of swindlers, who have been extorting money from men by threatening to circulate their compromising videos on social media platforms.

A case was registered against five members of the gang on complaint of Joginder Singh, a resident of Hans Kalan.

The accused have been identified as Manjit Kaur Kalam of Johlan village, Charanjit Kaur Kalo, Amarjit Singh and Sukhchain Singh Buta of Raikot, and Raju Masih of Ludhiana.

The complainant said he was lured to the house of a tailor of Boparai Kalan village by the accused on Tuesday. When he reached there, they demanded Rs 2.5 lakh as ransom from him. Joginder said he paid Rs 15,000 to them on the spot.

Ludhiana (Rural) SSP Charanjit Singh Sohal said the police team, led by DSP (Investigation) Rajesh Sharma, arrested all accused, except Raju Masih, when they were waiting to receive the balance ransom payment at a link road on the outskirts of Sadhar village.

The police say investigation revealed that female members of the gang used to lure men to a designated place while their male accomplices would catch them in compromising positions.

“Amarjit Singh of the gang usually posed as a cop and asked other members to take the victim to the police station. The accused have confessed of duping around 10 men during the pandemic period,” the police added.

The DSP(I) said the police had initiated an investigation to identify other victims of the gang.

“We have retrieved a few video clipping from mobile phones of the arrested accused and will try to identify other victims. We will also make efforts to recover the extortion money if victims come forward to lodge a formal complaint,” said the DSP(I).