Jalandhar, July 10 -- The charges against inspector Gurinderjit Singh Nagra by the US law-enforcement agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), have left the Punjab Police red-faced, with senior officials terming the case a "first of its kind" in the history of the state's police force.

According to the 44-page federal indictment unsealed in Los Angeles as part of the FBI's Operation Hard Ball, Nagra, the station house officer (SHO) of Tanda police station in Hoshiarpur district, conspired with the notorious Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang. Nagra is accused of trying to extort $400,000 (approximately Rs.3.81 crore) from a Los Angeles-based family by threatening to frame their relatives in Punjab for murder.

"It is an unprecedented case...