Representative image for an arrest.
Credit: iStock Photo
Bengaluru: The Bengaluru police arrested four people on charges of impersonating Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers and extorting money from students from Kerala residing in the city.
The arrested — 37-year-old Deepak R Chandra; 42-year-old Pramoda AS; 23-year-old Anantha Krishna; and 22-year-old Adarsh — are from Kerala.
The Soladevanahalli police said the men created fake ID cards embossed with the CBI logo.
Armed with false IDs, the four suspects would barge into the accommodations of Kerala students at night, beat them up and plant drug packets on the premises. They would also thrust the drugs into the hands of the victims and shoot videos.
Threatening to leak the videos, the gang would demand money from the victims, police said.
During one such incident, the gang forced their way into a house on Hesaraghatta Main Road in Soladevanahalli police station limits and demanded Rs 3 lakh from the inmates. The victims paid Rs 90,000 instantly, agreeing to pay the remaining amount later. But they went ahead and filed a police complaint.
Reviewing CCTV camera footage from the area, the police traced the suspects in 12 hours of receiving the complaint. They seized one air pistol, handcuffs, lathis, three fake ID cards and four mobile phones. They also impounded two cars following the arrest.
The police said one of the suspects visited his sister residing in Bengaluru and became friends with two students at a private college to hatch the plot. The trio brought in one more student to carry out the plan. Police are now probing to find out how many people have fallen victim to the extortion.