Jamshedpur: Three CBI impersonators arrested, fraudsters part of interstate gang

Mail News Service

Jamshedpur, Dec 7: The city police have busted an interstate gang of fraudsters by arresting three of its members who were posing as CBI officials to dupe people. Police have recovered stolen jewellery from them.

Posing as cops the fraudsters used to cheat people and convince or threaten them to part with their jewellery. In several instances they cheated gullible passersby by saying that they are plainclothesmen probing a string of robberies in the same area. They would scare the victims and convince them to take off their jewellery and put it in a bag. Using sleight of hand they stole the jewellery during the process and decamped before the victims could realise that they were cheated.

Police officials said that the trio went to different parts of the city and introduced themselves as CBI, crime branch or top police officials to dupe people. The Senior Superintendent of Police, Prabhat Kumar, said that the gang consists of 20 members and operates at various cities across the country.

According to Kumar, the fraudsters who call themselves the Irani gang have been active since the last two-and-half years. “The gang members, most of whom hail from Madhya Pradesh and Maharastra, travel to different cities by road to carry out their criminal activities. They often hire a car to travel within the city and then abandon it after the operation,” said Kumar.

Those arrested include Sadik Hussain, and Takbir Khan from Madhya Pradesh and Kasim Baig from Maharashtra. According to the police the trio had visited Kolkata on December 4 and had cheated a person of his jewellery in Khidirpur before coming to Jamshedpur by car on Tuesday.

City police officials said that the gang members are suspected to be involved in the Rs 32 lakh loot in the Bistupur branch of Canara Bank. “Investigations into the bank robbery are underway and we are hopeful that these three will be able to tell us something more about that case,” said a police official.

The stolen jewellery recovered from them include one gold bangle, one gold bracelet, two gold necklace, some gold rings, one each of silver and copper rings, 17 pieces of silver jewellery, three mobile phones and cash worth Rs 5330. The police officials have claimed that the trio has confessed to 13 cases of cheating complaints for which have been registered at the Mango, Sonari, Kadma, Ulidih and Sakchi police stations.