Additional Sessions Judge Amrinder Singh Shergill has sentenced Manjit Kaur and Sukhwinder Singh alias Sukha to four years’ imprisonment each in a 2020 extortion case involving an obscene video of a property dealer. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 3.16 lakh on each of the accused.The court convicted the two under various provisions of the IPC and Information Technology (IT) Act for hatching a conspiracy and extorting money by threatening to make an obscene video viral and to implicate the complainant in a rape case.According to the prosecution, complainant Vijay Kumar, a property dealer at Bapu Market, Lohara, had met a woman who identified herself as Gurpreet Kaur. She was later identified as Manjit Kaur. The complainant alleged that he was honey-trapped. The woman had developed physical relations with him at his office on June 24, 2020.The prosecution said that the next day, ASI Dharminder Singh contacted the complainant and allegedly threatened him with registration of a rape case. Sukhwinder Singh alias Sukha, who allegedly impersonated a press reporter, was also present. The accused allegedly told the complainant that they had recorded a video of his intimate act with the woman and threatened to make it viral.The accused initially demanded Rs 50 lakh from the complainant. The amount was later settled at Rs 10 lakh. On June 28, 2020, the complainant allegedly handed over Rs 7 lakh to the accused outside Simran Palace.Police later arrested the accused and recovered Rs 3 lakh from Manjit Kaur, Rs 3 lakh from Sukhwinder Singh and Rs 1 lakh from ASI Dharminder Singh. Mobile phones allegedly containing the video were also recovered. A secret camera fitted in a ladies’ purse was also recovered from Manjit Kaur’s house.The prosecution examined 20 witnesses, including the complainant, police officials, telecom nodal officers and digital forensic experts. The defence denied the allegations and claimed that the case was false.Proceedings against the third accused, ASI Dharminder Singh, had abated following his death. The court subsequently sentenced the two surviving accused to four years’ imprisonment each and imposed a fine of Rs 3.16 lakh on each.