Five persons, including two police constables, were arrested for allegedly demanding money from a businessman and threatening to set him up in a rape case at Tajganj in Agra district on Thursday, police said. Advertising Of the five accused, the police constables are Deepak Solanki, posted at the Sadar Kotwali police station and Kavi Chowdhary from the Reserve Police Lines in the district. On Friday, the five alleged accused were produced before a local court which sent them to jail. “We are in the process of suspending the two constables and a departmental inquiry has also been ordered against them,” said Agra SSP, Amit Pathak. “According to the complaint, around two months back, a woman called up the victim, 57-year-old businessman Prem Dutt Sharma, expressing interest about a plot. She has told the police that she got his number from a roadside hoarding,” Vinod Payal, Station House Officer (SHO) of Tajganj, said. “Since then, she had been talking to Sharma frequently over the matter,” the SHO added. According to Sharma, on Thursday, the woman allegedly called him up and asked him to meet her at a house at Maruti Estate to collect the advance money against the plot she wanted to purchase, Payal said. “After Sharma reached the house, she allegedly appeared before him half-naked. Before Sharma could react, her cousin and her husband entered the room and started thrashing Sharma accusing him of sexually assaulting the woman. The woman’s husband was allegedly wearing an Army uniform,” the SHO said. “A few minutes later, the two constables also allegedly entered the room and beat up Sharma threatening to set him up in a rape case by circulating his photographs with the woman and demanded Rs 10 lakh from him. The police have seized the photographs,” Payal said. “Sensing foul play on hearing the commotion in the room, the neighbours locked the house from outside and called the police, who brought all the six, including Sharma, to the police station. Sharma then narrated the incident to the cops. The accused, too, admitted to the crime,” the SHO added. All the five accused were arrested and a case was lodged under IPC sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 384 (extortion), 420 (forgery) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy). The police also booked the woman’s husband under IPC section 171 (wearing garb or carrying token used by public servant with fraudulent intent) for wearing the Army uniform, Payal said. Advertising “Three more people have contacted the police accusing the five of blackmailing them in the same way. We have lodged cases based on their complaints as well. The woman’s husband has 14 criminal cases lodged against him at different police stations in Agra. Most of the cases are those of theft and robbery,” Tajganj Circle Officer Uday Raj Singh said.

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