At least five people have been arrested, including two women, as a group of fraudsters posing as police officers ran a fake police station out of a guesthouse for eight months – just metres away from a real police post.
The gang was operating in the eastern Bihar state’s Banka city would have carried on doing so if not for a top police officer noticing a peculiar red flag – a man and woman who were part of the gang were dressed in police uniforms but carried country-made pistols instead of the official revolvers assigned by the government, reported the Hindustan Times newspaper.
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At least five people, including two women, were arrested on Wednesday by Banka police over the fake police station racket.
The fake police station was located just 500m away from the real one, reported The Telegraph.
Officials said the imposters used uniforms worn by sub-inspectors and deputy superintendent of police. It is unclear as of now how the gang managed to gain access to the uniforms.
Two of the arrested suspects – Anita Murmu and Aakash Kumar Manjhi – posed as the station house officer and deputy superintendent of police respectively with badges, the report added.
Ms Murmu confessed to talking to locals in the area and offering solutions to their problems like job opportunities in return for bribes ranging from just £1 to £500, according to The Telegraph.
Police officers have so far recovered a country-made pistol, four police uniforms, over 500 application forms of a federal government housing scheme, 40 electoral cards issued by town officials, bank cheque books, five mobile phones and fake identity cards.
The gang’s ringleader, identified by officials as Bhola Yadav, is yet to be arrested.
Officials are questioning the manager of the guest house for their role in the conniving scheme, officials said.
The gang also extorted money from multiple ongoing government projects in the pretext of conducting enquiries.
Two women arrested for participating in the racket said they paid Yadav Rs 99,000 and Rs 55,000 (£950.7 and £581) respectively as they wanted a job but were instead recruited to run the racket.
The two said they thought they had been offered a job in the police services, the report added.
Article updated 2 weeks ago. Content is written and modified by multiple authors.
