Tamil Nadu, Karnataka cops’ heat on Bharatpur gang

HYDERABAD: With a Bharatpur gang reportedly having created fake social media profiles of over 350 policemen from southern states and cheated their friends, police units of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka have shown interest in the culprits arrested by Nalgonda police recently and they are likely to join custodial interrogation of the accused.
The gang operating from Kaithwara village in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan had duped scores of people posing as ‘cop in distress’. On September 20, Nalgonda superintendent of police (SP) AV Ranganath was alerted by friends about his fake Facebook profile. The fraudster, posing as the SP, was chatting with Facebook friends asking them for money citing family/medical emergency. A case was registered and the location of the suspects was traced to Kaithwara village in Rajasthan.
On September 24, a special team of Nalgonda police, headed by an inspector, left for Kaithwara. The team parked their vehicle at Kaithwara police station and operated only through their confidential informant. After a recce, located the houses of key suspects in Kaithwara and conducted a late night raid with the assistance of armed unit of local cops. Police seized incriminating evidence from the four accused and brought them to Nalgonda on October 2.
The accused created fake Facebook profiles of over 350 cops from across the southern states. “In a span of about two months, the accused duped scores of people who are friends of police personnel through the fake profiles. In Telangana, they cheated about 50 persons to the tune of Rs 3 lakh,” Nalgonda II Town circle inspector (CI) SM Basha, who headed the team that went to Kaithwara, told TOI.
After the arrest, Nalgonda police started receiving calls from cyber crime units of Hyderabad, where cases have been booked against the gang members. Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu police units are seeking details of the case.
“We have found evidence in the phones of the accused showing that they had created fake Facebook profiles of cops from Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Officials from Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are in contact with us and they want to find out more details about the accused and the evidence,” the CI said.
In a related development, Nalgonda police have moved a petition before a local court and once they get custody, police personnel from other states might visit Nalgonda and join the investigation.