Two ‘reporters’ held for blackmail

March 29th, 2011 - 11:45 pm ICT by IANS  

New Delhi, March 29 (IANS) Two men, who blackmailed people posing as crime reporters, were arrested in the national capital, police said Tuesday.

“Sahdev Singh, 30, and Shahid Ahmad, 37 were held from Wazirabad area in east Delhi Monday,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Kumar Jain said.

They were working with a newly registered weekly newspaper Vardaat A to Z.

The two were held on a complaint filed Rashid Mehmood who said that a man posing as a crime reporter was blackmailing him.

“Mehmood called reporter Sahdev Singh to his shop and he was caught red handed along with the Rs.5,000 given by the complainant,” said Jain.

Mehmood told police, “I had already given Rs.15,000, but he was asking me to pay Rs.10,000 more or else he would publish a news that i am a thief, who sells and purchases stolen utensils.”

Shahid also worked as a crime reporter for the same paper, Jain added.

“Singh took some pictures of his (Mehmood’s) shop and started asking for money threatening to publish the pictures in their newspaper,” said Jain.

Vardaat A to Z was registered recently by Sanjay Gupta. It publishes 500 copies a week. The paper has around 150 unpaid reporters.

All the reporters were issued identity card showing them as crime reporter. A government of India logo was also found on their identity card.

Police said that the duo started to work as reporters without any payment only for getting a press identity card.

Related Stories

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted in Uncategorized |

Subscribe