3 min readAhmedabadApr 17, 2026 10:14 AM ISTA police inspector in Vadodara has been booked and his aide arrested by the ACB for allegedly extorting ₹2 lakh from a man by threatening to frame him in a fake "love jihad" case.The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday booked a police inspector and arrested his “aide” for demanding and receiving a bribe of Rs 2 lakh from a man after threatening to book him in a fake “love jihad” case under the provisions of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act.The accused have been identified as police inspector V A Charan, posted at Padra police station in Vadodara Rural, and Sajid Ali Gulamrasul Syed, his aide.The case stems from the altercation the man had with his live-in partner at their residence in rural Vadodara. The woman called the 112 helpline and both, in their 30s, were taken to Padra police station. On the basis of a complaint filed by the woman, the police placed the man under preventive detention for 24 hours.ACB Inspector Ankur Prajapati told The Indian Express that after the man’s detention, the woman told the police that they had reached a compromise and she wanted to take the man back home.“It was then that the accused inspector Charan asked the man to pay him Rs 6 lakh or he would be booked for “love jihad”. The man, who works as a cook’s helper, told the inspector that he didn’t have the money to pay him. The accused Inspector then called in the middleman, Sajid Ali Syed, and asked him to speak to the man (complainant),” said ACB Inspector Prajapati.“As part of their plan, Syed then pretended to plead with the inspector on behalf of the man and told him that he had managed to bring the bribe amount down to Rs 2 lakh,” Prajapati said.Over the next three days, between April 12 and 15, the accused persons allegedly kept calling the man asking him to pay the money or face the “love jihad” case.Story continues below this ad“The man, who after being released from preventive detention, had gone back to live with the woman in the same house and planned to mortgage some gold ornaments to pay off the accused. Later he decided to approach the ACB,” ACB investigation officer Ankur Prajapati said.“We set a trap at Akshar chowk in Vadodara on April 16 evening, and caught Syed red-handed while accepting the bribe amount,” said Prajapati.The ACB also seized Syed’s phone in which the agency found a recorded conversation he had with the inspector saying he had received the amount.Both accused were booked and Syed was placed under arrest. The accused police inspector is absconding. The ACB has launched a hunt to arrest him.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd