The Madhya Pradesh High Court denied anticipatory bail to a man–claiming to be a journalist, who is accused of extorting an Assistant Commissioner of GST over rejection of his GST application, by threatening her that he will post defamatory and derogatory news against her on Facebook. [2026 LiveLaw (MP) 250]

The prosecution had alleged that since the rejection of his GST registration application on 18.07.2025, the applicant had continuously blackmailed and harassed the complainant with the intention of extorting money from her.

The bench of Justice Ratnesh Kumar Gupta observed:

"The allegations against the present applicant are serious in nature. The prosecution case reveals that the present applicant not only tried to get his some work done, on the basis of lack of documents, but he also tried to intimidate a public servant by maligning her dignity by way of posting unwanted news over different social media platforms. On perusal of the case diary, this Court also finds some whatsapp chats indicating ingredient of threat and unlawful gain from the complainant".

An anticipatory bail application was filed by the man accused of extortion (Section 308) of BNS. Per the prosecution, the complainant, an Assistant Commissioner of GST of Shivpuri, alleged that the accused had submitted an application for GST registration, but it was not accompanied by a valid identity proof and other requisite documents.

Meanwhile the petitioner argued that he is a journalist and just tried to unveil the unlawful acts of the complainant and consequently, he has been falsely implicated in this case.

The complainant officer however submitted that since the GST application did not comply with the prescribed requirements, it was rejected on July 18, 2025. Per the prosecution, despite being informed of the deficiencies in the GST application, the accused insisted that GST registration be granted in violation of the prescribed procedure.

The complainant claimed that the accused repeatedly visited her office, introducing himself as a journalist and demanding that his application be approved. He further demanded ₹20Lakhs from the complainant on the grounds that the GST application rejection has caused him financial loss, which should be paid by the complainant. He threatened her, claiming that he would publish false and derogatory material.

Further, the complainant alleged that on December 11, 2025, a news item containing allegations against the complainant was uploaded on the Facebook account of the accused, followed by another on December 13, 2025, showing her residence. The post also contained allegations that the arrival of the Economic Offence Wing had caused a commotion at her place. Multiple news pieces were published by the accused.

Upon confronting the accused with said fake news, the complainant contended that he demanded ₹1 crore and threatened that if the amount is not paid, he would continue to publish defamatory material against her.

Later, the complainant confronted him that she would initiate legal proceedings against the accused for continuous harassment, the accused informed her that he would implicate the complainant and her family under a false Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act case.

Thus, the police lodged an FIR based on the written complaint of the Assistant Commissioner of GST.

The counsel for the accused/applicant contended that there was no independent and cogent material available on record to show the commission of the alleged offences. Whereas the counsel appearing for the State opposed the anticipatory bail application.

Noting that the allegations against the accused were serious the court dismissed the plea.

Case Title: Pradeep Kumar Jatav v State of Madhya Pradesh

MCRC-28051-2026

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (MP) 250

For Applicant: Advocate Abhishek Jat

For State: Public Prosecutor Dinesh Savita

For Complainant: Advocate Pramod Kumar Pachori

Click here to read/download the Order