In a breakthrough, Udham Singh Nagar police arrested a person, Jogendra Kohli, resident of Pithoragarh, from Khatima, who had allegedly phoned and demanded extortion of `60, 000 from Khatima sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Richa Singh.
He was found out to be an old hand in extorting money or pressuring to have his works done through phone calls while posing himself as a highly placed government official.
He had been earlier sent to jail and on being released, he started playing the same game of trying to swindle people by masquerading as senior government official.
The accused was sent to jail after being presented in the court, informed Khatima Police Station in-charge Ajay Dhyani.
Kohli along with his family was staying in a private accommodation in Khatima, police said. The anonymous caller posing as a senior government official posted in the Secretariat had threatened SDM Richa Singh on August 4, stating that she must cough up Rs 60, 000 or else she would be removed from the post she was holding.
Dhyani said that a case under appropriate sections of IPC was registered in the police station, Khatima after the SDM had reported the case. Several teams comprising personnel from Special Task Force (STF), Special Operation Group (SOG) and local police station were formed. “The accused was arrested with hard work put in by them,” he said.
Dhyani further said that in course of interaction, the accused had admitted his offence, saying that he had claimed himself as PA to Principal Secretary (Personnel) Radha Raturi while talking to the SDM over phone and asking her to deposit the amount in his bank account.
The accused had made the threatening call from Dehradun and after making the call, he had switched off his mobile phone. The police initially faced difficulties to crack the case because of the phone remaining switched off.
While teams were deployed in Dehradun and Pithoragarh, the accused kept on changing his location frequently to elude them, Dhyani added.
He further said that investigation revealed that in 2010, he had phoned a judicial officer in Khatima while posing as senior administrative officer of the state. He had asked the judicial officer to employ a certain person in the court. Police caught the accused and he was sent to jail. He was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. After being released, in 2013, he took cash of Rs 80, 000 from a person on the promise of providing him a job in government departments. A zero FIR was lodged in Khatima against him and, later, the case was transferred to Dalanwala.