The Delhi Police on Friday claimed to have arrested a 34-year-old charlatan impersonating as a CBI officer. He allegedly gypped the wide-eyed who swallowed the bait by falling for his hooey. He was arrested by a team of Crime Branch while trying to inveigle Rs17 lakh from a BSES contractor after threatening to implicate him on rape charges. The accused, identified as Balraj Singh Maharana, alias Bunti — a resident of Kota, Rajasthan — was arrested on Thursday by the Crime Branch.
Police recovered forged ID cards of Singh as an officer of CBI and Railway Suraksha Bal, counterfeit stamps of CBI, a stamp pad, Singh’s photograph in police uniform, a pair of handcuffs, a gun holster and two cell phones.“We had received a complaint on Wednesday from a BSES contractor that he has been constantly receiving extortion calls on his mobile phone from unknown numbers. The caller identified himself as an officer of CBI,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ashok Chand.
The caller told the complainant that CBI was conducting an inquiry on sexual harassment against him on a complaint by a woman and if he did not pay Rs17 lakh, he would be indicted on rape charges, said Chand.The complainant initially paid Rs21,000 in hard cash and subsequently lodged a complaint with the Crime Branch of Delhi Police. A team of Crime Branch apprehended the con artist from Darya Ganj, said Chand.
During interrogation, the accused revealed that in 2010, he was arrested under NDPS Act in Kota, Rajasthan and after his release from the clink in 2012, he started extorting money under the guise of an officer of CBI/Railway Suraksha Bal.He is also wanted in a case of abduction wherein he and his cohorts had tried to kidnap a businessman of Kota but failed in doing so, police said.