Korba (Chhattisgarh):Chhattisgarh's prominent liquor baron, Amolak Singh Bhatia, along with his son, nephew, and eight others have been booked for allegedly holding a man hostage and forcing him to withdraw a case against them in the state's Korba district, officials said on Sunday.
Amolak along with Prince Bhatia, Sona Bhatia, Bablu Bhatia, and others, have been booked under sections 365, 384, and 120B of IPC. The First Information Report (FIR) was filed against them at the Kotwali police station on Saturday. Earlier, serious crimes were registered against Bhatia and his close associates in Tarbahar police station in Bilaspur, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also raided their locations recently.
The whole controversy revolves around the cable business, and the complaint was filed by Arvind Kumar Panwar, a resident of Dewas Road, Indore, who registered the case at the Kotwali police station. He charged Bhatia, Bablu, Gurwinder, Prince Bhatia, and eight others with serious charges of kidnapping and blackmailing.
Arvind alleged that he had complained about cloning the setup box and making fake IDs on August 3, last year, which was a case of misappropriation of crores. The police had found the involvement of Amolak Singh Bhatia in the investigation of the complaint of setup box cloning case. After that, Arvind started receiving constant threats to withdraw the complaint. Meanwhile, when he was staying in a hotel in Korba, some people abducted him, beat him up, blackmailed him to withdraw the complaint, and later released him.
The complainant, Arvind, has demanded fair investigation and action as the accused are influential people. A case was already registered in Darri police station, and this is the second case against Bhatia, who has a significant name in the liquor business. The controversy over the cable business has been going on for a long time, and the police are preparing to take further action in this matter. The accused have been charged under non-bailable sections, and the seriousness of the allegations demands a fair and impartial investigation.
A probe was initiated and following the investigation findings, police registered a case, said Kotwali Station House Officer (SHO) Rupak Sharma. According to the officer, the accused persons allegedly abducted the victim and forced him to withdraw a case lodged by him. Further probe in the case is underway, he added.
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