Awantipora, Apr 13: Police on Tuesday claimed to have busted a gang of extortionists posing as journalists in this South Kashmir area. All the six accused including two girls have been arrested and a case has been registered against them.
 Addressing media persons here, Superintendent of Police, Awantipora, Bashir Ahmad Khan said that on a complaint a girl was arrested who revealed the modus operandi of the gang which led to more arrests.
 While providing the details, Khan said, “Two girls used to stay on the national highway and ask for lift from any person. They then used to seduce that very guy and take him to some destination. At the same time four self-styled journalists claiming to be from a news channel IKB and carrying all the electronic media gadgetry used to film the scene and then blackmail the person.”
 He said that the girls used to selectively choose their catch. Quoting an example, Khan said, “In one instance two girls upon finding a person withdrawing a huge sum from Jammu and Kashmir Bank in Bijbehara enquired about his destination. On finding that the person was heading towards Madhama, Sangam, they told him that they too had to reach the same destination and asked for a lift which he offered. Then they took him to an unknown destination as per their plan, where their four male accomplices arrived and filmed them, and received money from him,” he said.
 The four accused persons, who police said were held from a hotel in Srinagar, have been identified as Ahmad Dar S/O Khazir Muhammad Dar R/O Zaldura, Islamabad, a self styled bureau chief of the channel; Muhammad Amin Lone S/O Ghulam Nabi Lone R/O Kreeri, Dooru, self styled crime reporter of the channel; Shahnawaz Ahmad Shah S/O Mushtaq Ahmad, Alamdar Colony Chrar, Budgam, self styled sub-editor of the channel and Nadeem Shafi Sofi S/O Muhammad Shafi Sofi R/O Malakhnag, Islamabad.
 However, the name of the two accused girls was withheld by the police.
 “We are not revealing the names of the two girls, however both of them are married with two kids each, one hails from Islamabad and other from Pampore,” Khan said.
 A Tata Sumo vehicle, video camera, digital camera, a mike, identity cards of the IKB channel and a pen video recorder were recovered from their possession. Besides, a cash of Rs 37,000 was also recovered from the accused.
 An FIR. No. 75/2010 under Section 388, 392, 420 and 120 B RPC has been registered in the police station Awantipora which amounts to extortion, impersonation of media, cheating and criminal conspiracy.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 14 Apr 2010 00:00:00 IST