2 held for posing as cops to extort money from commuters in Gurugram

Two men were arrested in Gurugram for posing as policemen and extorting money from commuters on a flyover. The suspects targeted two-wheelers and demanded ?500 from riders and drivers, claiming traffic violations. They were caught red-handed and are being questioned to determine the number of victims. A case has been registered against them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Police on Tuesday arrested two men on charges of extorting money from commuters by posing as policemen and waylaying vehicles on Daulatabad flyover in Rajendra Park area.

2 held for posing as cops to extort money from commuters in Gurugram

Police said they received a complaint from a commuter on Tuesday that two policemen were forcing people to stop and then demanding money from them, after which a police team was formed and sent to the spot.

Police said suspects were extorting money from the commuters after intercepting their vehicles on the flyover and by threatening to fine them for traffic violations .

Varun Dahiya, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said Rajendra Park police received a complaint that a man in Delhi Police uniform and another carrying a Haryana Police identity card were extorting money from travellers.

“The police station team took swift action and caught them red-handed. The suspects targeted mostly two-wheelers and were extorting ₹500 from riders and drivers, citing traffic violations. One of the commuters suspected them to be impersonators when they had forced him to pay ₹500 and tried to snatch his motorcycle keys when he objected,” he said.

Dahiya said the suspects were not very aware of the various traffic violations and it was evident that they had either borrowed the uniform or stolen it from somewhere, the motorcycle rider told police.

The suspects were identified as Harshit Mann of Panipat and Himanshu of Karnal in Haryana. Police said the suspects were living on rent in New Palam Vihar. They both were working in a private company, said police.

Dahiya said they are questioning the suspects to ascertain the exact number of victims from whom they had extorted money. “The teams have taken them to Delhi to find the place from where they purchased the police uniform, while they are yet to identify the area in Punjab’s Amritsar from where they had got the identity card of an inspector printed,” he said.

A case under sections 67 (forgery), 468 (forging document) and 471 (using forged document)379A (snatching with hurt) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at Rajendra Park police station.

Parveen Kumar, station house officer of Rajendra Park police station, said they have recovered motorbike keys, ₹500, the police uniform bought from Delhi, fake ID card of Haryana Police (Inspector) and one motorcycle from their possession.