Hyderabad: With the city police curbing the menace of pseudo cops, fraudsters are now impersonating officials from the Commissioner’s Task Force.
In a case in April, a famous astrologer was ‘detained’ by four men posing as Task Force officials, clad in safari suits who decamped with property worth Rs 35 lakh from his residence in Chilkalguda.
It is difficult to identify Task Force personnel who do not wear police uniforms and do not wear badges to identify themselves, a senior official from the Hyderabad city police said.
The main aim of impersonation is to extort money. Inspector G. Naveen Kumar of the Special Operations Team, Malkajgiri, said, “They gather information about illegal trading, brothels, land mafia and civil disputes and reach the place wearing safari suits.”
Safari suits are the standard dress of Task Force officers. The fraudsters also wear moustaches, demand documents, ‘settle’ cases and extort money from the targets, the inspector said.
Most of these fraudsters are those who have failed entrance tests to join the police, he said.
In September last year, a 25-year-old BBA graduate, Hazmeera Anand, who unsucessfully attempted a police examination, was arrested by the West Zone Task Force for posing as a Task Force SI and extracting money from a brothel organiser in Begumpet.
“Anand was passionate about the police department right from his college. He had appeared for constable and sub-inspector examinations but failed to get the job. After facing financial problems, he hatched a plan to extort money by introducing himself as a Task Force sub-inspector,” said Additional DCP, Commissioner’s Task Force, S. Chaitanya Kumar.
A senior official from Hyderabad city police said that fraudsters impersonate Task Force or SOT personnel is because the names instil fear among those carrying out illegal activitties.
In another major breakthrough, Task Force police arrested a 42-year-old security guard of Sreenidhi Institute of Science and Technology, who was cheating people at Kacheguda by posing as a DCP.
Raghavendra Satyapal Jaurkar had unsuccessfully tried to become a constable twice in the past. Subsequently, he became a member of area peace committee in Kacheguda police station and found out details of working of police personnel.
“He had a police uniform stitched with insignia and shoulder flaps to pose as DCP or ACP as needed. He also prepared fake ID cards as DCP, Head Quarters, Hyderabad,” said DCP, P. Radha Krishna Rao.
