ONGOLE: Prakasam Police successfully apprehended a fake police gang on Tuesday for threatening a man and demanding a ransom of Rs 1.5 crore. Prakasam District Superintendent of Police (SP) AR Damodar, along with other officials, presented the gang members and their fake police attire to mediapersons at the Ongole District Police Office on Tuesday evening.
According to the SP, the main accused, Challagarla Sai Syam Kumar (31), who runs a salon for men in Bhagya Nagar, hatched the conspiracy. About 10 months ago, the complainant, Gajendra, lent Rs 10 lakh to Syam. When Gajendra asked for repayment after six months, Syam avoided clearing the debt and devised a plan to create fear of a false police raid.
Syam contacted his friend, Nimmala Vijaya Lakshmi alias Vandana (33), a fashion designer and part-time content creator from Hyderabad. She gathered her relatives and friends, including S Srisailam (27), Suresh, Raju, A Srilakshmi (35), K Durga Prasad (36), D Vinod Kumar (28), and D Srisailam (32). They rented police uniforms from a drama company in Hyderabad, to execute their plan.
On December 29, Syam lured Gajendra to his room in Ongole under the pretext of returning the money. The gang, dressed as police officers, waited in an adjacent room. When Gajendra arrived, the fake police officers suddenly entered, beat him up, and threatened to file false rape and drug cases against him. They stripped his clothes, took photos and videos, and demanded Rs 1.5 crore as bribe to not register a case. One gang member forcibly took Gajendra’s gold ring. They then released him, instructing him to bring the money.
After returning home, Gajendra suspected Syam’s role and filed a complaint at Ongole Taluk Police Station the next day. The police acted swiftly and arrested Syam, Vandana, Srisailam, Srilakshmi, Durga Prasad, Vinod Kumar, and Srisailam at the Sanghamitra Flyover on December 31. They recovered the complainant’s gold ring and seized the car used in the crime. The police are searching for the absconding members, Suresh and Raju.