Eight arrested for extortion posing as UGC, CBI officers

New Delhi: A gang of eight persons, who posed as officers of University Grants Commission and Central Bureau of Investigation, were nabbed from north west Delhi on Tuesday.

Police said the accused used to enter educational institutes and extorted them by threatening a raid.

Police said the accused were identified as Ajay Goel (37), Kuldeep Singh (47), Dean (25), Saksham (22), Abhishek (21) and three women. Deputy Commissioner of Police (North West) Aslam Khan said Goel was the mastermind of the racket, and started it after being influenced by news on institutes awarding fake degrees.

He had formed the idea after watching a film and targetted educational institutes to extort money from them.

He used to retrieve the list of institutes from JustDial and then target them randomly.

"For manpower, Ajay and Rina used social media platforms to propagate that they have been awarded a pan-India project by UGC to carry out inspections of various educational institutes. Five persons, including a girl, were incorporated in the team," said the DCP.

It may be noted that one of the team members Kuldeep Singh used to act in short YouTube films.