Local news channel owner, 3 others booked for honey-trapping; 1 arrested

The owner of a local television news channel and three of his employees were booked and one of them was held for allegedly blackmailing a head clerk of the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC), police said on Friday.

The scribes were allegedly blackmailing the head clerk with video clippings, in which he was purportedly seen in a compromising position with a woman, they added.

Superintendent of Police (SP), City, Shlok Kumar told reporters that the GMC employee had lodged a complaint at the Kavi Nagar police station against two persons, alleging that they had recorded his video with a woman.

The complainant alleged that the duo had arranged his meeting with the woman, a job-seeker, at a hotel here, the officer added.

While the meeting was on, the accused took photos and recorded a video of the woman and the complainant and subsequently, started blackmailing the latter, saying they would make the clippings viral on the social media if he did not pay Rs 15 lakh to them, the complaint stated.

The complainant had agreed to pay a sum of Rs six lakh and had paid an amount of Rs 50,000 to the accused on February 13, it added.

One of the accused, who was arrested from a bus stop in the Kavi Nagar area on Thursday, confessed to his crime, adding that he was working on the instructions of the owner of the news channel, the police said.

He also confessed that the woman was hired to honey-trap the complainant, they added.

The arrested accused was produced before a court, which sent him to jail, while the other accused were still at large, the police said.

The SP said the District Information Office and the Press Council of India were informed about the incident.