Youngsters from Guwahati had just reached city when men posing as CID threatened them and demanded citizenship papers
Illustration/Uday Mohite
Even as the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) continue to roil the country, criminals have decided to use it to their advantage. Two youths from Assam who were in the city for work, were conned out of more than R10,000 by two men posing as CID officers over 'not carrying documents to prove they were on the NRC list'. It took them a while to realise they had been conned after which they approached the police.
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Mohammed Jiyabur Rehman, 28, a Guwahati resident, came to Mumbai with his 24-year-old friend Rabbul Hussain Abdul Kadri on January 24.
The duo alighted at CSMT from Howrah Express and was waiting for their acquaintance (whom they referred to as bhaiyya) around the station premises.
Rehman planned to travel to Kuwait later.
"I am illiterate. I got in touch with a man who assured he would take me to Kuwait as a hotel employee. I had paid him R50,000 in cash and he had told me to come to Mumbai," Rehman told mid-day, adding, "After reaching CSMT, I called him up and he asked me to wait for a while."
While he sat at a bus stop along with Rabbul around 3 pm, two men in formal attire approached them and inquired about their whereabouts.
"I told them that I was from Assam. He asked me if my name had appeared in the NRC. I said yes but they continued questioning me further," Rehman recalled.
The men in formal attire claimed to be CID officials and asked the Assamese duo for proof of their nationality. "We told them we had our Aadhaar cards and PAN cards, after which they began checking our bags. We told them
Rehman was going to Kuwait and I had come to see him off but they didn't bother listening and continued searching our bags," said Rabbul.
"When they found some money in Rehman's bag, they claimed it was counterfeit currency and called us Bangladeshi. They also took away cash of R8,450. They said we would be arrested and deported," he added.
'Will get you verified'
The scared duo asked the imposters what could be done to prove their nationality and were directed towards a lane where they could get themselves verified and get a receipt against it. The accused then asked Rehman to hand over his Aadhaar and ATM card and other documents and asked him to wait at the bus stop.
Rehman soon received an SMS from his bank saying R2,000 had been withdrawn from his account.
"I had written my PIN number on the cover of the card," said Rehman who soon figured that he had been looted and rushed to the Azad Maidan police station.
An offence has been registered at the station under Sections 170 (impersonating a public servant), 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.
'Cheated' by travel agent, too
The man who had promised to take Rehman to Kuwait too didn't answer the duo's calls after which they realised that he had cheated them too. Rehman later left for Kerala after some of his friends told him of some job opportunities there and lent him money for the travel. Rabbul returned home to Assam.
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