Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir police on Friday arrested three persons including a BJP Panchayat member for extortion in J&K’s Sopore area.

The Panch confessed that he was involved in the commissioning of the crime

Police said that a complaint was filed by Mudasir Ahmad Sheikh in which he said that during the intervening night of April 3 and 4 some unidentified persons forcefully entered the house of his in-laws in Nadihal asking them for money and also demanding they take them in their vehicle to south Kashmir.

“The complaint said that the persons carried weapons. Based on technical evidence one BJP Panch, Mehrajuddin Rather, was picked up for questioning.”

“The Panch confessed that he was involved in the commissioning of the crime. He named three persons from Anantnag including a BJP Sarpanch.”

“We have picked up two among the named persons while the BJP Sarpanch is still at large. Some imitation weapons used to carry out the crime have been recovered,” police said.