Is intending to avail call girl service a punishable offence

8 months ago

Please tell if it is a crime under the following condition or simply extortion by police.
My male friend chats with a woman on a dating site and receives her WhatsApp no. Later he chats on whatsapp and expresses his intention to meet her later but without fixing any date or place. Later police arrests the call girl and recovers the mobile no of my friend from WhatsApp chat. Now the police threatens my friend that he would be arrested and be brought to another city, promising him that if he pays a heavy amount the case would be dropped. My friend gets scared and coughs up the money online. The police claims that my friend had made a huge crime and even visiting a dating site is a huge offence.
Please tell if my friend has committed a crime. If yes, what is the punishment?
Or it is simply extortion by the police. What is legally advisable: my friend should put up with it and let it be or he should face the law and try to recover the extorted amount.