Delhi: 4 held for impersonating ED officials, extortion

:The Delhi Police on Thursday arrested four people from Delhi, who impersonated officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and sent fake notices to people on behalf of the agency to extort money from them

:The Delhi Police on Thursday arrested four people from Delhi, who impersonated officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and sent fake notices to people on behalf of the agency to extort money from them.

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Police said one of the arrested men, identified as Santosh Rai, is a habitual cheat allegedly involved in over 30 cheating cases registered in Delhi and other states, such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, over two decades.

Police said Rai produced a South Indian movie titled “Godse” with the money he earned from his criminal activities. However, the movie was never released. He was previously running an admission racket, in which he duped aspirants seeking MBBS seats in leading medical colleges across the country, said police.

Rai was arrested for his involvement in running many such fake MBBS admission rackets in south Indian states and Delhi in the past. Police said a Saket court also sentenced him to one-year rigorous imprisonment in a case registered against him in 2008.

In the present case, Rao was impersonating a special regional officer named Rajeev Singh in the Central Region Office of the ED, and sent a notice under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to a customs clearing agent from northeast Delhi, demanding ₹50 lakh to settle the matter. However, no such officer named Rajeev Singh was there in the agency, said a senior police officer associated with the investigation.

“Rai posed as an ED official and issued a notice to the customs clearing agent, with the intention of extorting money from him for “settlement” of a fictitious case,” said an ED officer, who did not wish to be named.

Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Monika Bhardwaj said earlier this month, the crime branch received a complaint from the ED, which alleged they had received several complaints about a person who impersonated an ED officer and extorted money from people after sending fake notices on behalf of the agency.

“Preliminary enquiry revealed the fake notices were sent using some apps to spoof e-mails from NIC mail and calls were made from different government office numbers to terrorize the victim. A case was registered and teams were formed to nab the frauds,” said Bhardwaj.

Investigators said the customs clearing agent, who was one of the complainants, was convinced to tell the suspects that he was ready to settle the matter and pay the first instalment of ₹7 lakh. It was decided that the money will be delivered near the Parliament Street police station in central Delhi on August 26.

The teams of the ED and the Delhi Police’s crime branch laid a trap and the caught two men when they arrived to collect the money. One of them was Rao, and the other was Bhupender Singh Gusain, who posed as a lawyer. Their interrogation led to the arrest of their associates--Kuldeep Kumar and Sanjay. All four are in their forties, said police.

“Their interrogation revealed that one Afzal Ahmed, who is out on parole, hatched the conspiracy with Kuldeep, Sanjay and one Arjun Raghav, who further included Rai in it. Rai roped in one Aakash Chauhan, who is a cyber fraud expert,” said the DCP.

Police said Sanjay, who makes projector screens for a living, ran his business from a rented property owned by the customs clearing agent. It was Sanjay who asked the other gang members to target his landlord. His role was to monitor the activities of the customs clearing agent after he receives the notice and the calls.