Mohali: Jobless graduate held for extorting money by posing as cop
21-year-old Kurali youth got a fake police uniform tailored for ₹4,000 and went around checking vehicles through fake nakas, say Mohali police
Police on Saturday arrested a 21-year-old jobless youth for posing as a policeman to extort money from commuters at a fake naka in Phase 6.
The accused, identified as Avinash Kumar, a resident of Kurali, Mohali, completed his bachelor of arts (BA) from a private college in Chandigarh last year and had been unemployed since, said police. His arrest came following a tip-off to the police regarding a fake naka near Max Hospital in Phase 6.
“We got information that a sub-inspector had laid a fake naka near the hospital. When we reached there, we found a youth sitting in a car and taking ₹1,500 from a car owner. On questioning him, we discovered that he was posing as a policeman in a fake uniform and extorting money from commuters after stopping them for checking,” said Shivdeep Singh Brar, station house officer (SHO), Phase 1.
On further interrogation, police found out that the youth is a Kurali resident, who is jobless since completing his graduation.
“He got the fake uniform stitched through a tailor for ₹4,000 and had been going around in his car, extorting money from unwary people by posing as a cop. His father works at a private firm and mother is a housewife,” the SHO said.
The accused has been booked under Sections 170 (personating a public servant), 171 (wearing garb or carrying token used by public servant with fraudulent intent), 419 (cheating by personation) and 384 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code at the Phase 1 police station.
He was produced in a court on Saturday and sent to three-day police remand.
The SHO said they will interrogate the accused about how long he had been extorting money through this modus operandi. “We got information that he was seen in uniform at Kurali also,” he added.
Earlier on April 22, Chandigarh Police had also arrested Ambala resident Tejinder Singh, 24, and Dera Bassi resident Kanchan, 25, for posing as police personnel.
Police had caught the duo at a naka near Sector 49, while they were moving around in a Toyota Corolla wearing fake police uniforms with forged IDs.
On April 25, Mohali police had arrested constable Harpreet Singh, posted with the Mohali Police Control Room (PCR), for taking a ₹200 bribe from a taxi driver at a fake naka in Kharar. He was nabbed after an alert passer-by filmed him taking the bribe and forwarded it to the anti-corruption helpline, recently launched by Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann.