4 impersonate as cops, lawyers; cheat people

With the arrest of four persons, the Delhi Police Crime Branch claimed to have busted a gang, whose members would allegedly impersonate as police officials and public prosecutors to extort money from people on the pretext of settling non-bailable warrants issued by courts against them. 

The accused used to tell the victims that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had filed cases against them owing to dues, after which the court issued non-bailable warrants in their names. The police said the accused were identified as Sandeep Kumar, Sanjay Pandey, Dharmender and Sultan. The police have recovered several SIM cards, mobile phones and “incriminating” documents from their possession.

The police received a complaint from a danseuse, who said a man, posing as a sub-inspector, threatened that he had her arrest warrant as she owed Rs 67,000 to the RBI. She said the man added that only a public prosecutor, Radhe Shyam Verma, could help her get out of this situation. 

Later, when she tried to call the man and the lawyer, their phones were found to be switched off.

“A police team learnt that another person from Gorakhpur was conned in a similar fashion. The police found that Sandeep Pandey used to open bank accounts on the basis of forged documents,” said a police official. Pandey was arrested on May 25. He provided the bank accounts details to Dharmender and Sultan, who were arrested on May 27. They further shared the details with their kingpin, Sandeep Kumar. 

The police said Kumar used to impersonate as a police officer or a lawyer and make calls to the victims using several SIM cards procured on fake IDs.