Nellore: Dargamitta police detained seven persons for demanding and collecting Rs 70,000 from a brothel operator saying they were reporters and videographers of different web channels in Nellore on Wednesday.
Some of them claimed that they were from the police department. The police team, led by CI M. Nageswaramma, arrested 4 persons, including a woman, under Immoral Trafficking Act.
The role of web channel representatives came to light when the CI and her team raided the brothel located close to D-Mart in Magunta Layout late on Tuesday night.
The team found a 25-year-old woman and three men apart from a young girl brought for prostitution in the brothel and had taken them into custody. They tried to create an impression that the woman and one among the men are a married couple and the other two are relatives, but in vain. During interrogation, the accused told the police that nine persons posing as reporters and videographers of different web channels (Breaking News, Public News and News 9) came to the house and demanded Rs 2 lakh from them to restrain from telecasting their illegal activities. However, the channel people accepted Rs 70,000 after the brothel house operators expressed inability to cough up the demanded amount.
Based on the information, Nageswaramma and her team picked up 7 out of the 9 members allegedly connected to the web channels when they were sharing the money during a raid on one of their offices located at Chanakya Puri Colony in Podalakur Road here on Tuesday night.
An extortion case has been booked against Sampati Vijaya Nirmala, 37, Chilamaturi Surya-narayana, 30, Puliboina Haribabu, 25, Patan Jilani, 24, Kinnera Naresh, 22, Gandham Mahesh, 39, Pallam Yesupadam, 35, Roja Rani and her son. Police launched a manhunt for Roja Rani and her son.
The accused held under Immoral Trafficking Act include Mederametla Balakrishna, 28, of Adurupalli in Chjerla mandal, Kovi Malleeswari, 27, and Nellore Ajaykumar, 26, of Balayapalli village and Sriramsettti Gopal, 50, of Srinivasa Agraharam in Nellore. The young girl found in the house was shifted to women protection home in Nellore.
