6 more booked for bid to extort Rs 3cr from MLA

Gurgaon: A day after the Delhi-based owner of a news website was arrested for allegedly blackmailing Gurgaon MLA Umesh Aggarwal, police on Wednesday said they had booked five more people, including four women, in the case and efforts were on to nab them. Sources, however, said one of the five has been detained for questioning.
Delhi-based Vijay Shukla ran an online portal “Local News Of India” and had allegedly sought Rs 3 crore from the MLA in lieu of stopping a series of stories being carried against him. Cops said they were interrogating Shukla, who was arrested late on Tuesday night and sent to three-day police remand by a duty magistrate an hour later.
“So far, six people, including Shukla, have been named in the FIR registered under sections 384 (extortion), 499 (defamation), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC at Sector 5 police station. The other accused are Mohit Saini, resident of Gurgaon village, and Swati Sharma, Sweta Chauhan, Kanika Katiyar and Swati Chawla, all residents of Delhi,” said a police official.
According to Aggarwal’s complaint, Shukla had been running defamatory stories and making them viral on social media in an attempt to defame him. The stories alleged that Aggarwal had links with the land mafia and that he made people pledge votes for a free pilgrimage.
“In fact, the episode of blackmailing started around a month back when Saini posted a defamatory video on Shukla’s website, claiming my links with the land mafia in Gurgaon. I requested the editor of a city-based local newspaper to arrange a meeting with Shukla. On July 11, Shukla met me and demanded Rs 3 crore from me. Later he reduced it to Rs 2 crore,” Aggarwal told police.
The MLA said, “My political rivals may be responsible for this as the blackmailer kept on insisting that he was being funded for the same. I have full trust in police but want a thorough investigation. Also I want the arrest of all those involved in the case.”
DCP (west) Sumer Singh Yadav said: “Others will be arrested after their role is verified.”