NEW DELHI: The fear of CBI, Enforcement Directorate and other probe agencies is so pervasive that even criminals are taking the agencies’ names to rob the people.
On February 14, a police patrol near the Sarai Kale Khan flyover heard a man screaming for help. After a chase, the cops arrested two persons who were seen running away. The victim stated that the suspects forced him to part with a bag containing Rs 11 lakh which his shop owner based in Old Delhi had given him to be delivered at his Punjabi Bagh residence.
The suspects played CBI officers, threatening the victim that he could not carry that much cash “legally.”
Last October, four people barged into a house claiming to be officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence. They threatened to implicate him in a case and demanded Rs 5 crore. The complainant could arrange only Rs 50 lakh.
The strategy of using the fear of law-enforcement agencies appears to have impressed the criminals in Delhi. Two days back, six men entered a house in west Delhi’s Baba Haridas Nagar area, posing as sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate, and made off with Rs 3 crore. The suspects were caught after a chase and Rs 70 lakh cash was recovered from them.