Five arrested for extortion, cheating by impersonating as ED officials

New Delhi: Delhi Police Crime Branch on Friday apprehended five persons for their alleged involvement in extortion and cheating traders among others by impersonating as Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials. These accused have been remanded to three-day police custody.

These five accused, aged around 24 to 35 years, are residents of Delhi NCR and were arrested on the basis of a complaint from the ED. They were involved in extortion and cheating traders and some other persons.

All these accused were arrested and produced before the Court on August 27 for remand. The Court has granted three-day remand of these accused for custodial interrogation, stated the press release by the Delhi Police.

The incident came to notice after fake letters in the name of ED were sent to various banks and certain individuals in Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Haryana, Gujarat and Delhi by certain unscrupulous elements.

In the fake notice to the banks, instructions were given for freezing of bank accounts of traders and other individuals. Similarly, fake letters were being issued to them (traders and individuals) asking them to appear in the ED office, said the police in the press release.

Following this, initial verification was conducted and the issue was clarified with the banks. Later, complaints were made to Directorate General fo Police Karnataka and Delhi for apprehending the accused.

The said complaint was forwarded by ED to Delhi Police and, on the basis of proactive action and swift investigation, the culprits involved in the racket have been apprehended by the Delhi Police, as per the release.