Mumbai: 3 pose as NIA officers to extort ₹2 crore from businessman, arrested

The Kalachowki police have arrested three persons for allegedly trying to extort ₹2 crore from a Lower Parel-based bullion merchant by posing as National Investigation Agency (NIA) officers

The Kalachowki police have arrested three persons for allegedly trying to extort ₹2 crore from a Lower Parel-based bullion merchant by posing as National Investigation Agency (NIA) officers. Police said one of them posed as deputy commissioner of police (DCP), posted with NIA. The accused managed to extort the amount of ₹25 lakh from the trader by threatening to book him in a false case.

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The arrested accused have been identified as Rajesh Bansi Pawar, Vijay Singh alias Mahesh Panchvaktra and Iqbal Khan.

According to police, the complainant is a bullion merchant from Lower Parel, and has a wholesale and retail gold business and is a resident of Central Mumbai.

A police officer said in November 2020, the complainant’s car was intercepted by three people at Bharatmata junction near Lalbaug. One of accused identified himself as DCP, NIA, whereas the two others posed as his subordinates. They took his car keys and showed their (fake) identity cards to the trader.

“The trio told the businessman that they had received a criminal complaint against him, they would register an offence and raid his house and office if he failed to pay them ₹2 crore. The businessman then bargained with the three and paid them ₹25 lakh,” said a police officer from the Kalachowki police station.

The complainant later enquired about the “NIA officials” and found that no such officers were working with the anti-terrorism agency.

Later, the complainant also learnt that the trio who extorted money from him was arrested by the Kalachowki police red-handed while accepting ₹16 lakh extorted in a similar manner from another businessman in December 2020. After waiting for a month, the businessman lodged a complaint and a case was registered against the fake NIA officers.

“We took custody of the three accused from jail and after their role was found in the case they were placed under arrest. They have been remanded to police custody up to February 6,” said Vijay Patil, DCP zone-4.

During the investigation, the accused revealed that they had seen the news on TV channels about NIA cracking down on gold merchants in smuggling cases. They got an idea of extorting money from bullion merchants by posing as NIA officials, DCP Patil added.

Police sources said that the accused Panchavaktra is a key member of the group who had his own business but had to shut down after income tax raids. Thereafter he ventured into cheating businessmen, said the officer.

The three have been booked for impersonating a public servant, cheating, extortion, forgery, robbery and criminal conspiracy under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code.