Kanpur (UP) Aug 3 (PTI) The Kanpur Police have reopened investigation in two cases of alleged land grabbing and extortion involving a journalist, who was recently arrested on similar charges in another case, officials said on Saturday.
The cases which have been reopened were lodged at the Colonelganj and the Babupurwa police stations in 2021 and 2023 in which TV journalist Avneesh Dixit and others were booked, they said.
However, Dixit was given a clean chit during the probe, they added.
“The complainant in the cases have informed the police that they were threatened by the accused during the initial probe and based on their fresh complaint, the cases have been reopened for investigation under provisions of the erstwhile CrPC,” Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Harish Chander told PTI.
The cases have been reopened under Section 173(8) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973 which gives the police the power to continue investigating an offence even after they have submitted their final report and the court has taken cognisance of the case.
Dixit was arrested on July 29 on charges of grabbing government land in the city’s Civil Lines area with a market value of over Rs 1,000 crore, according to police.
Dixit and some others were named in complaints lodged by local revenue officer Vipin Kumar and Samuel Gurudev Singh, to whom the land had been leased, they said.
The FIRs were lodged under sections 61(2) (criminal conspiracy), 74 (criminal force to any woman intending to outrage modesty), 127(2) (wrongful confinement), 191(2) (rioting), 308(5) (extortion), 310(2) (dacoity), 324(4) (mischief causes loss), 329(4) (house trespass), 351(2) (criminal intimidation), 352 (intentional insult) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
Over the past week, multiple FIRs have been lodged against Dixit at various police stations of Kanpur, officials said, adding that efforts are on to arrest other accused in the cases as investigation proceeds. PTI COR KIS RPA
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