Fake cops extort Rs 1.65 lakh from south Mumbai resident

MUMBAI: Malabar Hill police have arrested a person for posing as a policeman from the anti-narcotics cell and allegedly extorting Rs 1.65 lakh from a resident of the area.
The incident took place on June 8 when the victim Varun Mehta, 34, who lives at White House building, was home.
The victim has stated in his complaint that the accused, along with an associate, landed up at his house. One of the accused introduced himself as ‘Shaikh sahab’ from the narcotics cell, while the other pretended to be his junior. The accused alleged they had information that Mehta had kept some narcotic drugs in his house and threatened to carry out a search of the flat.
They told Mehta he would be framed in a drug case unless he paid up Rs 5 lakh.
At the time of the incident, one of Mehta’s friends and two others were also in the flat.
“The accused showed his police identity card from his mobile phone and did not produce any genuine identity card. We are working on the case,” said Vinod Kamble, senior inspector of Malabar Hill police. “The accused told the complainant that they were from ANC and had information that the complainant had a huge amount of drugs stashed in the house. We want to find out how the accused knew specific things about policing. We are interrogating the accused,” said an IPS officer.
The White House building had housed the CBI’s office for several years.
The victim, who told police he was in the advertisement industry, says he panicked that he would be booked in a false case. He and his friend cobbled together Rs 1.65 lakh and handed it over to the accused. The duo fled with the money.
However, the harassment did not stop there. The accused started making phone calls demanding the remaining money. When Mehta realized the duo would not back off easily, he approached the Malabar Hill police on June 28 and lodged a complaint.
The accused have been booked for extortion, house trespass, impersonating a public servant and intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace.
The police got the number of the suspects from Mehta and began collecting details based on this information. They managed to arrest one of the suspects. However, the Malabar Hill police are reluctant to share details about the accused. “Investigation in the case is still in progress,” said an officer, adding the victim should have asked for a physical identity card from the suspect.
“People should dial 100 to call police for help in such circumstances or take such people who claim to be policemen to the nearest police station for verification,” added an officer.