Millennium Post

Gang posed as Crime Branch officials to extort people busted This man picks bike locks; but only during a ride

- OUR CORRESPOND­ENT ABHAY SINGH

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Monday said that they have busted a gang of extortioni­sts including two women who used to cheat people by impersonat­ing as officials of Crime Branch. Police identified the accused as Jyoti (33), Deepak Kumar (33) and Poonam Sethi (43).

On September 15, one complainan­t reported at Subhash Place police station that some persons are trying to extort money by impersonat­ing themselves as officials of Crime Branch. A team of Subhash Place police station nabbed the three accused from the office of a jeweller in Netaji Subhash Place.

Deputy Commission­er of Police (north-west) Vijayanta Arya said that the accused persons were trying to blackmail and extort the complainan­t introducin­g themselves as “Officials of Crime Branch”. They were demanding Rs. Five

lakh from the complainan­t by threatenin­g him to ruin his business reputation.

Adding further DCP Arya said that the accused Deepak was under debt. He came into the contact of Poonam Sethi through the social platform and started committing the crime. "Jyoti is the wife of accused Deepak. His husband Deepak told her about the lady Poonam Sethi and asked her to join him in committing a crime to earn easy money for livelihood," said DCP Arya. The 43-year-old Poonam Sethi started blackmaili­ng and extorting people by impersonat­ing as an official of crime branch using the name of her own organizati­on named National Crime Intelligen­ce Bureau. Four mobile phones, two identity cards in which press and National Crime Intel

ligence Bureau were printed, recovered from the possession of accused. NEW DELHI: Beware! if you are keeping any valuable items in the storage box of motorcycle­s, then you might be in trouble as criminals are now able to steal these from running bikes. The motorcycle rider will only notice the missing items after reaching his destinatio­n. Police have now arrested one person, specialisi­ng in such daredevil crimes, from Bara Hindu Rao

locality in North Delhi. DCP (North) Monika Bharadwaj confirmed the incident and said that, while the probe is on, they have been able to identify the accused as Chintu, a native of Bihar. His modus operandi was unique as he, with the help of small precision tools, broke open the

locks of storage boxes of running motorcycle­s. "After taking out the valuables from the box Chintu hands over the stolen items to his associates and flees the spot," said an officer.

The team formed under SHO (Bara Hindu Rao) Sanjay Kumar arrested the accused after he was found to be loitering suspicious­ly in the area. Police claimed that Chintu, during interrogat­ion, confessed that he learnt the trade from the elders in his village. He had purportedl­y committed more than a dozen such thefts.

Revealing details about Chintu's modus operandi, the police said that before coming to the city, he would prepare a fake identity card from a different state. With the help of this forged identity card, he would then purchase a second-hand bike to start his crime spree. "He had planned that if police caught him during checking he would show the vehicle documents and the fake ID card," one officer said. The accused later took rooms in hotels close to industrial areas or markets. He would conduct detailed reccee during the day and then Chintu and his associates would steal after having zeroed-in on their target.

"The accused parked his vehicles in parking areas and fled the city. The gang , in some incidents, also punctures the tyres before committing the crime," added an investigat­or.

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