4 fake CBI officers arrested for trying to kidnap trader

The police said the accused belonged to a gang known for allegedly extorting money from people whom they contact under the pretext of giving them loans and then conducting fake raids by impersonating police officials.

Mumbai: The Goregaon police have arrested four men for allegedly trying to kidnap a share broker and trying to extort an amount of ₹50 lakh from him by posing as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials.

According to the police, the arrested men met the complainant through an acquaintance and introduced themselves as representatives of the Indus Tower company (Image for representation)

According to the police, the arrested men identified as Jivan Ahir (Vipul), (52), Girish Valecha, (29), Mangal Patel (52) and Kishor Chaibal, (52) met the complainant through an acquaintance and introduced themselves as representatives of the Indus Tower company.

Police officers said that the 43-year-old complainant, Rahul Shankar Gaikwad, wanted to invest ₹1.6 crore in commodity trading and had asked for a loan from the company through Valecha.

Dattaray Thopte, a senior police inspector of Goregaon police station, said that on Tuesday the seven men, including the four arrested accused, had gone to Gaikwad’s office with fake documents of a loan agreement.

Valecha told Gaikwad that his loan proposal had been approved and he just needed to show them that he had ₹5 lakhs, so as to show that he would be able to repay the loan.

“As soon as Gaikwad showed them the cash, Ahir and Patel showed their purportedly fake identity cards and introduced themselves as CBI and Mumbai police officers and informed him that they were conducting a raid, as they had learnt that Gaikwad had earned money illegally,” said Thopte.

The men asked Gaikwad to come with them and escorted him to their Mahindra Scorpio parked outside his office at Unnat Nagar and asked him to pay ₹50 lakhs if he wanted the matter to be resolved without any legal action.

After the seven men and Gaikwad stepped out of his office, the share broker noticed that the Scorpio was a private vehicle, with no indication of any government authority. He shouted for help and alerted his employees who were in the office. The share broker’s staff came running outside and grabbed two of the seven men while the rest fled on foot.

The police said the accused belonged to a gang known for allegedly extorting money from people whom they contact under the pretext of giving them loans and then conducting fake raids by impersonating police officials.