Four held for posing as Delhi Police, trying to extort ₹25 lakh in Gurugram

Police said the accused held four men hostage in a Sector 86 flat before the victim secretly shared his live location, foiling the plot.

Four suspects, including a woman, were arrested from an apartment in Sector 86 on Thursday for allegedly posing as Delhi Police Special Cell officials, barging into the flat, holding four occupants hostage and assaulting them in an attempt to extort ₹25 lakh, Gurugram police said on Saturday.

The suspects allegedly stormed a Sector 86 apartment, held occupants hostage and demanded ₹25 lakh using forged police identity cards. (File photo)

Sandeep Turan, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said the woman was sent to judicial custody, while the three other arrested suspects were remanded in police custody for four days after being produced before a court on Friday. “Three forged Delhi Police identity cards were recovered from their possession, which were arranged by their fifth associate, also from Rohtak, who is on the run,” he said.

Police said the origin of the forged Delhi Police identity cards remains under investigation. They said the suspect believed to have arranged the fake documents is absconding, and further details will emerge after his arrest and interrogation.

Police said the suspects failed to extort any money as their plan was foiled before the cash could be collected. Investigators said the victim secretly shared his live location and alerted a friend via WhatsApp, who arrived with several others instead of bringing cash, forcing the accused to flee.

According to the FIR, a woman rang the doorbell claiming to be a neighbour before entering with seven men posing as Delhi Police Special Cell officials. “They said it was a raid on a tip-off of illegal activities while displaying their identity cards and assaulted all four when he opposed their activities and threatened to put us inside jail,” the complainant alleged.

Police said the occupants were allegedly threatened into arranging ₹25 lakh. A senior police official said one victim was forced to travel with the fifth aide to collect the money from Delhi-Gurugram border on Dwarka expressway but secretly shared his live location with an acquaintance, who, along with others, intercepted them. The fifth aide escaped while the two accomplices, who were following him in another car as back-up, fled. The acquaintance and his companions then returned to the apartment, overpowered the four suspects and alerted police, who arrested them.

An FIR was registered at Kherki Daula police station under Sections 191(2) (rioting), 190 (unlawful assembly), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 308 (extortion), 204 (personating a public servant), 319(2) (cheating by personation), 127(2) (wrongful confinement) and 351(3) (criminal intimidation by threatening to cause death) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Police said raids are underway to arrest the remaining three suspects.