By IANS
New Delhi : Three television reporters were arrested from a Jharkhand MP’s official residence in North Avenue Monday for allegedly threatening and blackmailing him and three other MPs over a sting operation, police said.
“We have arrested Pankaj, Rajiv Patel and Ratan Deep Gupta for allegedly threatening and blackmailing some MPs. They were arrested from the house of Jharkhand MP Rameshwar Oraon of Lohardaga constituency,” a senior police official said.
A fourth man – Sunil Tiwari – is absconding, police said.
“One of the accused called me posing as S.S. Rawat, a secretary in the ministry of tribal affairs. He said he will give me five percent commission if I helped him in getting a project worth Rs.18 crore (Rs.180 million),” Oraon told IANS.
“He first called me on Thursday and arranged a meeting with me on Saturday. I checked with P.R Kyndiah (minister for tribal affairs) and he the man was a fake.
“I then informed the police and they arrested the trio today. Police also recovered some electronic gadgets that they had attached to their bodies. They said they were working with a private Hindi news channel,” he added.
Oraon also revealed to IANS that the men had earlier threatened three other MPs from Jharkhand – two from the Congress and one from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
Police sources said that the trio had been meeting the three Jharkhand MPs for the some time and posing as ministry officials and demanded money.
The trio had earlier conducted sting operations for some TV channels and were operating from Mayur Vihar in east Delhi, police said.
Oraon, a former additional director general of police, said he had also learnt that the men had approached at least 18 MPs and clandestinely video recorded them.
They demanded money from them and threatened to telecast the video on a well-known Hindi news channel.
Police have registered three separate cases of extortion, threatening and blackmail against the four men.
Sources also said the police had been receiving information on these people for some time and were keeping a strict watch on them.