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Ludhiana: 2 held for duping people posing as police officers

According to police the accused used to blackmail people by honey trapping them with the help of some women

Updated on: Jun 24, 2023, 23:50:19 IST
By , Ludhiana
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Two taxi drivers were arrested on Saturday for allegedly duping people of lakhs of rupees by impersonating as officers of various departments, including police, income tax and judiciary.

Two accused in custody of police in Ludhiana. (HT Photo)
Two accused in custody of police in Ludhiana. (HT Photo)

According to police, a hunt is on for the arrest of their aides. The accused used to blackmail people by honey trapping them with the help of some women.

The arrested accused have been identified as Gopichand alias Manav alias Manu, 32, of Janta Nagar and his aide Amrik Singh, 45, of Kot Mangal Singh. Both are taxi drivers.

The matter came to the fore after Bhanu Partap of Kwality Chowk of Shimlapuri filed a complaint, stating that he had met the accused in January, who assured him to help him in availing a loan. The accused made fake email ids in the name of the bank and sent the victim an e-mail that his loan has been sanctioned and they are transferring 97 lakh in his account.

Deputy commissioner of police (DCP, Rural) Jaskiranjit Singh Teja said that later the accused started threatening him in the name of officers from police, income tax and the judiciary stating that as the amount is big, he could land in trouble.

Later, the accused started making calls to him using different numbers posing as officers from police, income tax and judiciary by using their voice with the help of mobile applications. The accused have also created fake e-mail ids in the name of the officers.

“During questioning, the police found that the accused have created fake accounts on various social networking sites in the name of women. They used to honey trap people and later extort money from them by blackmailing them. It is suspected that some women are also involved in the crime,” the DCP said.

“A case under sections 419, 420, 384, 506, 201, 120B of the IPC, sections 66 (C) and 66 (D) of the information and technology act has been lodged against the accused at Shimlapuri police station. More arrests are expected,” he added.