Mumbai: The Mumbai Police Crime Branch arrested a 32-year-old man on Monday for allegedly extorting money from people by pretending to be a police officer. The police said that the accused has more than 40 cases registered against him.
According to the police, Sunny Parmar targeted a wide range of people, including jewellers, businessmen and builders.
“Mr. Parmar would call up people and identify himself as a Crime Branch officer with the Pune police. He would tell his targets that an accused picked up in an illegal arms case had named them as accomplices, and would threaten to arrest them unless they paid him a bribe. He would meet his targets, dressed in the way a plain clothes Crime Branch officer usually does, and take the money from them,” said an officer with Unit XI of Crime Branch.
On September 22, Mr. Parmar allegedly called up a businessman in the Malad-Malwani area and tried to extort ₹5 lakh from him. The businessman found it suspicious and approached the Malwani police the same day.
After two weeks of investigation, Mr. Parmar was arrested from his Dahisar residence. “The accused has been booked for extortion and impersonating a public servant under the Indian Penal Code,” said Senior Police Inspector Chimaji Adhav.