Ambikapur, Apr 13 (PTI) The Chhattisgarh police have registered six cases against a journalist working for a web portal for allegedly demanding extortion in Surguja and Balrampur districts of the state, officials said on Wednesday.

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The accused, Jitendra Jaiswal, who runs a news portal named 'Bharat Samman', allegedly used to run an extortion racket under the garb of journalism and circulate defamatory content and spread rumours against the victims to extort money from them.

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"Six cases have been registered against Jaiswal (during the past two weeks) in Surguja and neighbouring Balrampur district," said Ajay Yadav, Inspector General of Police (Surguja range).

He was arrested last week and lodged in a jail in adjoining Surajpur district, the IG said, adding that investigation into all the cases is underway.

Based on a written complaint application submitted on April 1 by Jitendra Soni of Ambikapur, Jaiswal, a native of Balrampur, was booked under sections 384 (extortion), 392 (robbery), 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC at Gandhinagar police station, a Surguja police statement said.

Subsequently, another case was registered in Gandhinagar police station based on a complaint by Praveen Agarwal, a resident of Balrampur district. Agrawal accused Jaiswal of demanding extortion from him and threatening to get him killed by Naxals if he did not fulfill his demand, it said.

Another complaint was lodged at Ajak police station (special police stations meant to address grievances of SC/ST people) of Surguja under section 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and other sections of the IPC and provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the release said.

Balrampur district police have also registered FIRs in Basantpur, Wadrafnagar and Dindo police stations on charges of extortion and dacoity against Jaiswal, it added.

"Several victims have fallen prey to Jaiswal's trap till date, but many didn't complain due to fear of further spread of false, libelous information through the web portal by the accused. He had become so audacious that he even allegedly tried to frighten one complainant inside the police station premises, who somehow mustered courage to come against him," the release said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)