4 fake cops arrested for raiding ‘fake call centre’

Four fake Delhi Police officers raided college students' home, seized ₹1.55 lakh, and threatened them; all arrested, police recover part of the money.

Four fake Delhi Police officers, accused a group of college students of running a fake call centre, then conducted a fake raid at their house in west Delhi and confiscated ₹1.55 lakh in cash before forcing them to sit like roosters, police said on Tuesday, uncovering a bizarre case of “crimes” and “punishments” that unfolded last week.

The four accused in police custody. (HT Photo)

The accused — Manpreet Singh, 29, Junaid Wasid, 23, Kuldeep Singh, 22, and Sarabjeet Singh alias Prince, 22 — were all arrested on Tuesday, police said. All are residents of west Delhi and were booked on December 12 under charges of robbery with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt.

The so-called “raid” at the students’ flat continued for four hours on December 10. The victims were forced to sit like roosters, photographed holding a gun, told to lock themselves in their own home, and threatened into silence before the imposters fled.

The victims – Kunj Salve, Mohammad Areebul Hasan, Aditya Kumar Verma, Lovpreet Singh, Aditya Vaswani, and Sujanya Gupta – are also students of University of Delhi and were not involved in any call centre scam, police said.

Salve, in his complaint, said he and Vaswani were approached by three men claiming to have video evidence of their involvement in a fake call centre at around 9.30pm on December 10. The trio identified themselves as police staff and an associate later joined them, a police officer, aware of the matter, said.

Despite presenting their college IDs and denying any wrongdoing, the four men forcibly took their mobile phones and brought them to their flat in the name of conducting searches.

The accused then cornered all six students, assaulted them, and seized their phones and laptops, Salve’s complaint mentions.

“After assaulting the students, the imposters demanded ₹25 lakh as bribe for not filing any case against them or arresting them. When the students refused having any money, the accused threatened them with gun and collected around ₹23,000 cash before taking away their debit cards and details from which they withdrew around ₹1.32 lakh,” said the officer.

Police could reach the accused by tracking their phone numbers which was taken by one of the victims on the pretext of future help.

Deputy commissioner of police Vichitra Veer said police have recovered ₹1 lakh of the stolen money, the pistol, and the car used in the crime. “We identified all suspects through technical and manual investigation and arrested them. Efforts are being made to nab the person from whom the accused had procured the firearm.”