Man arrested for posing as cop, looting truckers

The Baddi police arrested a Mullanpur resident on Sunday evening in Marrawala for allegedly impersonating a policeman and looting truck drivers. His accomplice is, however, on the run.

He would allegedly play police radio sounds on YouTube to mislead the victims in order to appear genuine.

Baddi SP Vinod Dhiman said on April 10, a complaint was received, in which the complainant, Dharmveer, a resident of Nyagal village in Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan, said on the night of April 8 while sleeping in his parked truck at Thana village, two individuals in police uniform forcibly pulled him out, assaulted him and took him in their vehicle. They snatched his mobile phone and Rs10,000 and transferred Rs 30,500 into their bank account.

A case under Sections 308 (2), 127 (2), 115 (2) and 3(5) of the BNS was registered on his complaint by the Baddi police for extortion and wrongful confinement.

In another such case, another complaint was received from Mahadev Gurjar, a resident of Dolatpura village in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan on April 13. He alleged that while he was near the Godrej company at Thana village in his truck on April 12, two individuals, who were pretending to be police personnel, forcibly took him inside their vehicle and withdrew Rs 40,000 using his ATM card and snatched Rs 2,200 from him. Following the complaint, a case under Sections 308 (2) and 3 (5) of the BNS was registered by the Baddi police.

Further investigation revealed that the accused had also looted Rs 11,000 from another person near USV company, Katha, and had transferred Rs 5,000 from another individual’s account near Jharmajri. In both cases, the accused were dressed as police personnel.

Taking a serious note of these proliferating incidences, the Baddi police constituted three special investigation teams. They carried out technical surveillance and sustained in-depth-investigations following which one accused — Fateh Singh (29), a resident of Rani Majra village near Mullanpur — was arrested on Sunday.

While search is on to trace his accomplice, the Baddi police is also tracing his criminal antecedents.

Himachal Tribune