Three men were arrested for allegedly extorting money and jewellery from the wife of a naval officer by posing as seers and threatening her with a dummy snake in Delhi's RK Puram area, police said on Tuesday.

 The accused were identified as Debu Nath (20), Vinod Kamat (45), and Rajender Sharma (50), police said. On April 5, the accused, posing as seers, extorted money and jewellery from the wife of a Naval officer near African Avenue Road, Deputy Commissioner of Police (southwest) Rohit Meena said.

 The accused first asked her to put money in a metal pot for blessings, the DCP said.

 "As the complainant did this, the accused threatened her with a snake for life and took away her gold cum platinum ring which she was wearing. Following a complaint, an FIR was registered and further investigation was taken up," the DCP said.   The police studied the modus operandi of the accused and traced them, he said.

 "The team checked more than 100 CCTV cameras on entry and exit routes. After continuous checking of CCTV cameras, the team obtained the registration number of the auto-rickshaw, which was found registered in the name of Sunita Devi. On questioning, she said that she had given it to one of the accused Kamat on a rental basis," he said.

 During the investigation, the police found that Nath and his associates would cheat people by showing dummy snakes in public places, he said.

 During interrogation, Kamat told the police that a few days ago, the accused met him and hired his auto rickshaw permanently for Rs 800 from 8 am to 2 pm. He used to pick them up from Shakurpur Basti in West Delhi and drop them at different locations where they committed the crimes, Meena said.

 "He also used to help them to escape from place of occurrence. The team later arrested Debu Nath, who told police that he had sold the ring to the jeweller shop of Rajender and recovered a platinum ring," Meena said, adding that further investigation is underway. Staff Reporter n New Delhi

Three men were arrested for allegedly extorting money and jewellery from the wife of a naval officer by posing as seers and threatening her with a dummy snake in Delhi's RK Puram area, police said on Tuesday.

 The accused were identified as Debu Nath (20), Vinod Kamat (45), and Rajender Sharma (50), police said. On April 5, the accused, posing as seers, extorted money and jewellery from the wife of a Naval officer near African Avenue Road, Deputy Commissioner of Police (southwest) Rohit Meena said.

 The accused first asked her to put money in a metal pot for blessings, the DCP said.

 "As the complainant did this, the accused threatened her with a snake for life and took away her gold cum platinum ring which she was wearing. Following a complaint, an FIR was registered and further investigation was taken up," the DCP said.   The police studied the modus operandi of the accused and traced them, he said.

 "The team checked more than 100 CCTV cameras on entry and exit routes. After continuous checking of CCTV cameras, the team obtained the registration number of the auto-rickshaw, which was found registered in the name of Sunita Devi. On questioning, she said that she had given it to one of the accused Kamat on a rental basis," he said.

 During the investigation, the police found that Nath and his associates would cheat people by showing dummy snakes in public places, he said.

 During interrogation, Kamat told the police that a few days ago, the accused met him and hired his auto rickshaw permanently for Rs 800 from 8 am to 2 pm. He used to pick them up from Shakurpur Basti in West Delhi and drop them at different locations where they committed the crimes, Meena said.

 "He also used to help them to escape from place of occurrence. The team later arrested Debu Nath, who told police that he had sold the ring to the jeweller shop of Rajender and recovered a platinum ring," Meena said, adding that further investigation is underway.