A 40-year-old man who impersonated a customs official to extort gold bars and threaten a passenger at Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station has been arrested, the police said on Saturday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Railways) Dinesh Kumar Gupta said that the accused, Jarnail Singh, is a resident of Haryana’s Karnal. A total of 400 grams of gold was recovered from his possession.

The complainant, Afnan, is a resident of central Delhi’s Chitli Qabar and has a cloth business. Afnan told the police that he and his two friends reached the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station on Friday. They had come from Surat in Gujarat, where Afnan had gotten his family’s gold jewellery melted down into three gold bars weighing 200 grams each. He had kept the bars in his trolley bag.

“When the trio was trying to find an autorickshaw, two persons approached them and said that they are customs and police officers. They asked the three men for their tickets and started checking their bags,” Mr Gupta said.

When the accused found the gold bars in Mr. Afnan’s bag, they allegedly threatened to implicate him in a criminal case. Mr. Gupta said that the accused then took Mr. Afnan’s bag on the pretext of examining it and disappeared.

“The complainant was frightened and did not disclose the incident to the police at the time. When he reached home, he told his family after which they decided to inform the police,” the officer said.

After a case was registered, CCTV footage from near the spot at the railway station was analysed. The complainant was also shown photographs of criminals who had the same modus operandi.

On Saturday, Jarnail was arrested on a tip-off from Sarai Kale Khan. During interrogation, he allegedly told the police that his associate is Rajwant Singh, who is absconding. The remaining 200-gram gold bar has also not been recovered.

The police said that Jarnail had been a property dealer but his business collapsed. He also has a cheating case registered against him in the Economic Offences Wing.