AN IMPERSONATOR who extorted money from traders by posing as a food inspector was nabbed by Health Department officials near the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) headquarters on Tuesday.
The accused, Amit “Bittoo” Chadha, a resident of MIG, was caught red-handed while taking money from Avdoot Ramkar, the local Bikaner Sweets dealer.
His three accomplices, however, managed to escape after deflating the tyres of the Maruti 800 in which they were travelling.
Both Chadha and the vehicle, containing nearly 100 bottles of soft drinks as well as a large assortment of powdered spices and condiments, were later handed over to the MG Road police.
Mayor-in-Council member incharge of Health department Rajendra Rathore revealed that Chadha used to extort money from oil, namkeen and commodities traders by threatening to have their samples failed during lab tests.
Chadha, who used the aliases Maninder Singh, Tejinder Singh and Amarinder Singh, would summon the trader to the IMC headquarters where he was made to wait while the accused went in to finalise the “deal.”
“After a while he’d come out and demand money from the trader telling him that officials would have to be paid off,” disclosed Rathore.
The MiC member said Chadha’s capture came in the wake of a fortnight long vigil that included some heavy duty sleuthing. “For around 45 days we were receiving complaints from traders about a food inspector who telephoned them with demands for
money.”
The MiC member said Chadha’s capture came in the wake of a fortnight long vigil that included some heavy duty sleuthing. “For around 45 days we were receiving complaints from traders about a food inspector who telephoned them with demands for
money.”
The phone calls, said the Health Department incharge, were traced to coin-operated machines in the vicinity of Subhash Chowk. Our investigations also revealed that the accused travelled in a white Maruti car without number plates.
“I then convened a meeting with food inspectors and it was decided to lay a trap for the impersonator,” disclosed Rathore.
The Health Department almost nabbed Chadha last week while he was accepting payments from a wheat trader but the accused, scenting trouble, made a last minute getaway.
“He was finally captured today after we received a tip-off that Chadha and his accomplices had come to the Scout Park and were planning to dupe another trader,” said the MiC member.
“Health Department staffers then swooped down at the site and managed to nab Chadha although his accomplices managed to flee,” he added.
Yadav said the amount extorted by Chadha from traders probably ran into thousands, maybe lakhs of rupees. “The actual details will, however, only come out after police investigations,” said the Health Department incharge.