Bargarh: After receiving a tip-off, police arrested four members of a fake news agency for allegedly defrauding and threatening at gunpoint General Manager (in-charge) of the District Industries Centre (DIC) in Bargarh Wednesday.
The imposters are Anuj Agarwall, (35) of Noida under Sector-63 police limits in Uttar Pradesh, Vishal Gambhir, (43), of Nagar Kotwali police limits in Bulundsahar, Imran Khan, (44) of Sadar Kotwali police limits in Ghaziabad and Tapan Kumar Sahu (57) of Bhakarsahi in Balipatna police limits in Khurda district.
A car, a video camera, a laptop, an I-Pod, four fake press identity cards, Rs 19,680 and eight mobile phones were seized from them.
A case was registered under different IPC sections and Section 25 of the Arms Act at the Town police station in Bargarh, said SDPO Khirasagar Nayak at a press meet here Wednesday.
Nayak said the gang met Satapathy June 11 and sought his help to establish a flyash brick plant costing Rs 3 crore. They identified themselves as employees of a news agency.
The gang tried to bribe him by offering him money and made a secret video recording of it without the knowledge of Satapathy. They took his phone number and met him again the next day. They showed him the video clipping of the recording, demanded money from him and forced him to accompany them to a bank ATM inside the market at gunpoint.
Satapathy withdrew Rs 20,000 from the ATM and handed it over to them. The miscreants demanded Rs 3 lakh from him then.
Left with no option, Satapathy went inside the bank, but failed to withdraw money due to some reasons and the gang fled.
The gang again met Satapathy Tuesday and tried to extort Rs 3 lakh. Police rushed to the spot and overpowered them.
After their arrest, the criminals created a ruckus claiming that they were correspondents of Tehelka India and BHBC News Agency.
Police took them into custody and found them to be imposters. The cops arrested them and registered a case, the SDPO added.
Locals asked the police to keep tabs on fraudsters who claim to be correspondents of websites and news agencies and fleece innocent people.
PNN
