VIJAYAWADA: Vuyyuru police on Monday arrested two persons, who posed as Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) officials and extorted lakhs of rupees from several traders by conducting ‘raids’ on their establishments.
The two arrested, identified as K Srinivasa Rao, a resident of Vijayawada, and Balaju Babu, a graduate, reportedly had been threatening and extorting money from the traders in Vuyyuru town, by identifying themselves as deputy superintendent of police (DSP), for the last four months.According to the Vuyyuru police inspector Satyanandam, the two also hired a car for conducting their raids and created fake identity cards.
To earn easy money the duo decided to conduct fake raids on traders and threaten them with false cases. “As per their plan, the prime accused Srinivasa Rao dressed up as a V&E sleuth and introduced himself as DSP to the traders in the Vuyyuru town. Threatening them with filing of cases against the irregularities found in their establishments, Srinivasa Rao collected lakhs of rupees from them,” said Satyanandam.
The fraud came to light when one trader grew suspicious over Srinivasa Rao’s behaviour and approached the Vuyyuru police. “As the traders did not approach police earlier, fearing action against them, these fake V&E officials’ fraudulent activities never came to light.It is learnt that the two had been in extortion business for the last four months. But, when one rice trader brought the issue to us, we arrested the two and initiated a detailed investigation,” the police said.