‘Central govt officer’ demands Rs50k from medical superintendent

The medical superintendent (MS) of MMG district hospital has alleged that an unknown person who claimed to be an officer from the “Central public grievance cell” called him in a bid to extort money from him.

The caller had allegedly demanded money to “settle a complaint” which he claimed to have received from the office of the then minister of state(mos) for external affairs, General (retired) VK Singh.

Based on the complaint by the medical superintendent, the Ghaziabad police filed an FIR on Friday under Indian Penal Code sections 385 (putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) at Kotwali police station.

“On May 27 afternoon, I received a call from someone who introduced himself as an officer from the Central public grievance cell and said that there was a complaint against me citing serious charges of corruption,” Dr Ravinder Rana, medical superintendent of MMG Hospital, said.

“The man claimed that the complainant was endorsed on the letterhead of the MOS and routed through the minister’s office. He then said that he could settle the complaint and can implicate the two complainants instead. He asked me to give Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 for each of the seven to eight clerks at his office to get the matter settled,” he added.

Dr Rana further claimed that he told the man that he had done nothing that could land him into trouble.

“The man said he wished to help me out and that I should come to Connaught Place in Delhi with Rs 50,000 to settle the matter. I did not go to Delhi till late evening and inquired about the complainant at the office of General (retired) Singh. I came to know that a few letterheads from his office had gone missing and someone could be misusing them,” Dr Rana added.

He alleged that the same day the man called him again in the evening and kept asking him to come to Delhi. The caller threatened him of dire consequences if he didn’t listen to him, Dr Rana alleged.

On being convinced that the caller was trying to extort money, Dr Rana later approached the Ghaziabad police.

An FIR was later lodged against the unknown caller and his mobile number was also given to the police.

“We have registered a First Information Report in the case and are trying to trace the caller who was trying to extort money. A team is investigating the case,” Jaikaran Singh, station house officer of Kotwali police station, said.

First Published:
Jun 02, 2019 14:41 IST

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