8 impostors of inter-state gang held

The Mangaluru East police have arrested 8 members of a interstate gang, who were posing as officers of National Crime Investigation Bureau (NCIB) and had hatched a conspiracy to extort money, in Pumpwell on Friday night.

Commissioner of Police Dr P S Harsha said the arrested impostors were aged between 30 years to 70 years.

The arrested are T Sam Peter (53), a native of Kerala, T K Bopanna (33) of Siddapura in Madikeri, Madan (41), of Bengaluru South, Chinnappa (38) of Virajpet, Sunil Raju (35) of Kanakapura in Bengaluru, Kodandarama (39) of Gowdanapalya Utharahalli, G Moideen alias Cherian (70) of Kuloor in Mangaluru and S A K Abdul Lathif (59) of Falnir.

Sam Peter, who has rented a house in Manipal, has links with gangs in Kolkata and Bhubaneswar.

Acting on a tip off, the police surrounded a SUV that was without a number plate but was using a name plate of NCIB Director, Government of India.

When the passengers inside the vehicle attempted to flee, the police arrested them.

During investigation, it was found that the gang leader Sam Peter and two other residents were staying in a lodge and were providing inputs to carry out the sinister activities, Harsha told mediapersons.

The police have recovered .22 revolver and eight live rounds from the possession of Bopanna in the car.

While they seized 4.5 mm pistol, laptop, voice recorder and other documents from the possession of Sam Peter.

Peter had fake ID card of NCIB director and visiting cards. The police also seized 10 mobile phones, wi-fi camera, surveillance equipment and other electronic gadgets, Harsha added.

He, further, said that citing the reason of investigation, the arrested had not registered their names in the log book of the lodge. Even the lodge owner will be booked, he said.

Police suspect that the gang was into extortion and had descended on city. A special team comprising DCP (Crime), DCP (Law and Order), ACP (Central), Inspector Shantharam and others was set up to thoroughly probe the inter-state activities, financial offence and other crimes committed by the gang.

The team will probe from all angles and will extract further information from the gang on their activities.

The team will probe the chassis number of vehicle seized to get more information about the owner of the vehicle. The police have booked cases under IPC Sections 170, 171, 419 120 B, 391, 399, 402, 141, Indian Arms Act Section 3 and 25 and also under State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act.