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Kannada News Channel CEO Arrested For Allegedly Blackmailing Businessman

The accused was caught accepting money from a businessman, whom he had blackmailed to expose.
BrianAJackson

BENGALURU -- The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kannada news channel 'Janashri' was arrested on extortion charges, police said on Saturday.

"The television channel's CEO Lakshmiprasad Vajpai, 42, was arrested on Friday night after he was caught accepting the ransom money from a businessman, whom he had blackmailed to expose," Koramanagala Police Inspector R.M. Ajay told IANS.

Police also arrested Mithun, an employee of the channel, along with Vajpai after raiding their office in the city's eastern suburb on a complaint from the businessman.

"Vajpai had allegedly threatened the businessman of telecasting a derogatory video footage of him and his company if he did not pay up ₹10 crore," said Ajay.

The news channel had already telecast a part of the video to force the businessman to pay up the ransom.

A First Information Report (FIR) was registered on Saturday against the accused under sections 384 (extortion), 385 (putting a person in fear of injury) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on the victim's complaint.

Another case was registered against Vajpai and his associates at the Commercial Street Police Station under the same sections of the IPC for demanding ₹10 crore and jewellery valued at ₹30 lakh as extortion from another businessman.

Vajpai is alleged to have received ₹10 crore through bank transactions in unspecified accounts out of the ₹15-crore ransom he had sought from the second businessman.

The arrested persons were produced in a local court for judicial remand for further investigation.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.