HYDERABAD: Three persons, including a police constable and prison staff member, who impersonated Task Force sleuths and extorted money from a kirana merchant at Jeedimetla, were arrested on Tuesday.The accused have been identified as Chidiri Amarnath, an Armed Reserve Constable deputed to the Hyderabad city police at Amberpet, G Srikanth, Warder at Nizamabad district prison and their friend Mohd Imran.
Police said Amarnath and Srikanth had hatched a plan to extort money from shops. They first sent Imran to enquire about shops which are selling gutka. From locals, Imran found that gutka is being sold at a store owned by Dinesh Kumar Mali at Shapur Nagar.
The trio approached the shop impersonating the Jeedimetla Task Force team and told him that they would register a case against him for selling banned items in his shop. To avoid the case, they demanded Rs 2 lakh from him and were reportedly able to extort Rs 50,000 from him.
Dinesh later became suspicious and alerted the police, who rushed to the spot and caught them red-handed. along with the extorted cash.Police found Srikanth was initially posted at Cherlapally Central Jail and transferred to the District Jail, Nizamabad. However, for the past six months, he was absent from duties.
Police probe
K Balaraj, Inspector with the Jeedimetla police station, said the three accused persons have been sent to remand. They are also probing if any more people are involved along with them