Two arrested for posing as commercial tax officials
Two people, posing as commercial tax officers, were arrested on Thursday by a team from the PGI police station, police officials said. The accused were trying to dupe and extort medical store owners in the PGI police station area.
Confirming the arrest, Sanjiv Suman, deputy commissioner of police, East, said, “We have arrested one Ritesh Upadhyay, a resident of Lucknow and Akhand Pratap Singh of Prayagraj
for posing as tax officials. The accused were arrested by a police team that intercepted a suspicious vehicle.”
Reportedly the suspicious vehicle was parked near the gate of Vrindavan Yojana. On enquiring, Ritesh posed as assistant commissioner of the commercial tax department.
He even showed an identity card of the tax department which on further invigilation was found to be fake. Meanwhile, Akhand acted as his aide, police said.
“The accused told us that they used to visit medical stores in the area and ask owners to give them critical life saving drugs, equipment including oxygen cylinders which they then sold to people in need. The duo used to threaten departmental action if the medical store owner refused to meet their demands,” said the DCP.
Based on the information gathered during investigation, the police has booked the duo for fraud and other sections of the IPC. The police has also slapped the Epidemic Act against the duo. The accused were sent to jail on Thursday evening.