IANS

Panipat, Mar 16: Eight members of the Special Task Force (STF) set up to tackle criminals in Haryana have been arrested after being caught on camera trying to extort money from a jeweller here, police said Tuesday.

Among those arrested are STF chief Ashok Sheoran, an additional superintendent of police, three assistant sub-inspectors and four constables.

"The eight surrendered (Monday). At that time we had taken them in for interrogation. We (have now) formally arrested them," an official told IANS here Tuesday.

"We have proof they were in Panipat on the day of the crime. We are verifying their (mobile) call records and details of their activities of the past few months."

According to the jeweller, the STF men came to his shop in Panipat, 150 km from Chandigarh, March 11 and demanded Rs.10 lakh. The jeweller gave Rs.1 lakh to head constable Jagbir Singh and asked him to come later for the remaining amount.

The handover was recorded by the CCTV cameras in the shop. The jeweller complained to the police who set a trap.

The police was already investigating a complaint by a stock broker who had claimed paying Rs.10 lakh to the STF team a few days ago. When the stock broker viewed the CCTV footage, he recognised the STF personnel as men who had taken the money from him also.

The police have directed the STF to stop their operations till the completion of the inquiry.