Web Journalists Accused Of Blackmailing & Extortion; Nabbed

Bhubaneswar: Police in the Bharatpur neighbourhood of the State Capital today arrested two web journalists on charges of extortion and blackmail.

Ranapratap and Sanu, who work for a news portal website, were named as the accused.

They were arrested as a result of a police complaint made by the proprietor of a guest house, who claimed that the scribes were extorting money from him and using bogus accusations of involvement in a prostitution ring to threaten him. The accused pair allegedly told the complainant that they learned that the guest house was being used to operate a sex business and threatened him with a police raid if he did not pay them Rs 2 lakh. The complainant contacted the police after they sought an additional Rs 70,000.

He provided audio recordings of the scribes requesting money from him when he filed the case.

However, the guest house was searched by police after filing a case. They later arrested the accused journalists after finding no proof of the purported trafficking.

Notably, the said web channel’s editor was detained last year for broadcasting disparaging material about known sprinter Dutee Chand.