Sacked home guard held for extortion

CHENNAI:  A former home guard, who was sacked recently, was arrested for posing as police personnel and extorting money from people. The accused was identified as S Don Stuart (32) from Aminjikarai. The issue came to light after R Kesavan (24) from Arumbakkam complained.

On November 19, Kesavan was smoking near a shop on Ethiraj Salai when Stuart arrived with a 'police' sticker on his bike. Stuart had allegedly questioned Kesavan about smoking in public places. "He then took Kesavan to a nearby ATM and forced him to withdraw Rs 25,000 claiming that if he registers a case, it would cost him Rs 1 lakh," said a senior police officer.

After taking the money, Stuart fled said the police. Realising that he was conned, Kesavan lodged a complaint with Egmore police on Tuesday. After an investigation, police arrested S Don Stuart and found out that he was working as a home guard and was sacked about four months ago.

Since then, Stuart had been conning people claiming to be police personnel. Police said Stuart has similar cases pending in Nolambur, Ayanavaram, T P Chatram, Nungambakkam and J J Nagar police stations. Stuart was extorting anything between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000, said the police.