Fake CBI officer held for extorting Rs 50 lakh and a car from couple

He and his accomplice were arrested when they came to collect a second Innova car, having already received one from the complainants; both accused are history-sheeters

The MHB police on Monday night arrested a man who cheated people posing as a CBI officer, and his associate. After a 50-year-old woman complained, they arrested the accused for extorting Rs 50 lakh and an Innova car from her and her husband. The woman has founded a credit co-operative society and her husband is an LIC agent.

Threatened into paying
Police said the woman's husband was introduced to the main accused, Ashwini Sharma of Panipat, at a friend's office in BKC, where he (Sharma) posed as a CBI officer. Police said they kept in touch and one day Sharma called up the man, saying he had a complaint against his wife's credit co-operative society, and they would have to pay him Rs 50 lakh and give him an Innova car to settle the matter, or else he would kill them in an encounter.

Afraid, the couple paid the money and gave him the car. However after a few days, Sharma, and his aide, Sajid Warekar of Thane who also claimed to be with the CBI, demanded another Innova.

The couple got suspicious and approached the MHB police, who filed an FIR for extortion. The couple then called Sharma on the pretext of giving him the car. Sharma and Warekar were arrested in Charkop, where they came to collect the car.

Accused are history-sheeters
The police found that Sharma was a history-sheeter and there are 5 cases of cheating against him in the city, wherein he posed as a CBI officer. Warekar also has a case of cheating in his name.

The accused were produced before court and remanded in police custody till November 16. Police suspect that the two may have cheated many more people. Senior inspector Pandit Thackeray of MHB police station said, "After the complaint, we laid a trap and arrested Sharma and Warekar from the couple's house. We also found Rs 70,000 in the accuseds' possession."

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