BENGALURU: A gang of five, including a fake journalist and four home guards, have been arrested for extorting money from the owner of a spa in Ramamurthy Nagar. The accused also claimed to be policemen when they extorted Rs 1.4 lakh.
The arrested are Syed Kaleem (28), a resident of RT Nagar, Sampangiram (31), Asif Babujan (27), Anand Raj (30) and Vinayaka (28). Police said that on February 26, the spa owner approached the police and alleged that a gang posing as cops raided his spa and threatened him with allegations of prostitution racket being run in the spa and extorted money.
Police nabbed the prime accused Kaleem, who claimed to be a reporter for ‘custom and excise news’. During interrogation, he confessed to having carried out fake raids with the help of his associates who work as home guards.
Police recovered Rs 60,000 in cash and Rs 1 lakh from the bank account which Kaleem had forced the spa owner to transfer online.