Dehradun police on Wednesday filed a case against seven reporters of news portals for trying to extort three men of Rs 50 lakh. The senior superintendent of police Daleep Singh Kunwar has handed over the case to the station house officer (SHO) of ISBT police station Sanjeet Kumar.

The officials informed that a man named Yash Sharma filed a complaint in the Patel Nagar police station on Tuesday that he along with his two friends Akash Sharma and Vikash Nayar had prepared a set up in a house situated in Mehuwala to start a call centre. On April 10, seven people arrived there around 8 PM and allegedly started accusing them of setting up a fake call centre to scam people. The complainant alleged that those people claimed to be reporters from various news portals.

They also took their laptops and mobile phones and kept it aside and then demanded Rs 50 lakh, informed the officials. As per the complaint, those reporters also attacked them while threatening them to viral their photos and videos that they had shot there if they fail to pay them, said the officials. The complainant claimed that after their consistent pleading, reporters asked them to pay Rs five lakh soon. The names of the alleged reporters and their respective portals as per the police are Aman Kumar and Ranjeet Singh from News Badlav, Salman from News True Media, Parvez Ansari and Soniya Baliyan from Rising Post, Bobby from India News Channel and Rohina from Khabar 24. The officials said that SHO Sanjeet Kumar will investigate the matter and take action accordingly.