Fake income tax officials ‘seize’ gold, cash worth Rs 50L in Andhra Pradesh

GUNTUR: In a scene straight out of the Bollywood movie Special 26, three people posing as income tax officials ‘raided’ a woman’s house in Guntur city and ‘seized’ cash and gold worth Rs 50 lakh on Thursday.

According to police, three unidentified people reached Yarramsetti Kalyani’s residence at Pragathi Nagar in Old Guntur in a car and introduced themselves as I-T officials. Alleging that her family has evaded tax, the trio began ‘searching’ the house.

It has been reported that Kalyani’s relatives had stashed a huge sum of money in her house. During the ‘raid’, the conmen searched every nook and corner of the house and demanded she produces all property papers, gold and cash. Kalyani obliged and handed over the papers, which the trio very convincingly skimmed through.

Following this, they informed her that her family had evaded tax and hence they would ‘seize’ the money and gold. After asking Kalyani to submit documents for the ‘seized’ gold and cash at the Income Tax office to get them back, the trio fled the scene with the loot.

It was only after some time that Kalyani realised the I-T officials could be fake and immediately rushed to the local police station and filed a complaint. Old Guntur police filed a case of extortion. The investigation is underway.

No evidence found

During preliminary investigation, police found CCTV cameras at the house, but soon realised that the conmen had taken away the hard disk. While the police are yet to identify the trio, they suspect that a close relative, who knew there was cash and gold in the house, might be involved in the crime.