Late night on the 22nd of April, the Noida Police arrested a female journalist for allegedly blackmailing Union Minister Dr. Mahesh Sharma. The arrest was made after the journalist conducted a “sting” operation on the Union Minister.
As a part of this sting operation, the journalist allegedly caught the Union Minister involved in illegal activities and demanded Rs. 2 crores as bribe from him.
“We were informed at around 1.30 P.M., by the Union Minister, telling us that a person is blackmailing him to the tune of 2 crore. The blackmailer allegedly asked him for 45 lakh by evening and the rest of the money later, else he would release a particular video to the media. We found that a woman had been sent by the person making the demand. The woman has been arrested and we are questioning her to ascertain further details (sic,)” Gautam Buddh Nagar SSP Vaibhav Krishna said.
According to sources, the journalist was part of a gang led by Aalok Kumar, who ran a local newspaper agency. The agency was shut down after demonetisation. The sting was recorded on video during the pre election of Sharma. Once the team got the video on tape, they started threatening Sharma and said if he didn’t pay them the money, they would make the tape public.
Aalok Kumar sent the journalist to Sharma’s hospital and said either he should pay the gang Rs. 45 lakhs by the evening, or the gang would release the tape. The Noida Police arrested the journalist, went through the “objectionable” video and investigated the allegations. There was no incriminating content on the tape.
“When investigated it was found that the blackmailer’s claim of it being objectionable were unfounded and were only to create pressure. It was a normal video where the minister was purportedly heard talking to some people. We have studied that audio-video and nothing objectionable has come out of it so far. We will get it reviewed in detail,” the SSP said.
A resident of Noida, the journalist told the police she was working with Aalok till 2016 at a local paper called Pratinidhi. Post several hours of questioning, the police realised the gang has targeted several prominent people in the Country and have lots of data collected about them.
The police seized the tablets on which the data was stored and are investigating the matter further.
Stay tuned for more updates.
