Conmen posing as income tax sleuths raid moneylender in Gujarat, police bust con gang | Vadodara News – Times of India

Seven individuals, including a GST inspector, a police driver, and a home guard jawan, orchestrated a fake income tax raid targeting a moneylender in Sukhsar village, Gujarat.

VADODARA: The season of fakes continues to thrive in Gujarat despite a series of exposés.
After a fake Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid in Kutch, the police in Dahod are investigating a bogus raid orchestrated by seven people who posed as income tax department sleuths to target a moneylender in Sukhsar village.
The seven people also sought a bribe to spare the victim and accepted a part of it. The gang members included an actual GST inspector, a police driver provided by a private agency, and a home guard jawan.
The drama began on Friday afternoon when Alpesh Prajapati, the moneylender, left his shop to go to Dahod. He was on his way when his son Gaurav called him, informing him that IT officers had come to their establishment. Prajapati returned to the shop and saw that there were four men. They said they received an application regarding Prajapati’s father and had come to conduct searches. They even showed him a document in English, the offence registered at Sukhsar police station states.
The conmen checked the documents and the pawned jewellery at the shop and wanted to seize the ornaments. Prajapati panicked as the jewellery belonged to people who took loans from him. To settle the matter, the men sought Rs 25 lakh as a bribe. Prajapati gave them Rs two lakh after borrowing some money from his parents. He then said he would get the remaining amount from his cousins in Zalod town.
The gang then went to a tea shop in Sukhsar, taking Prajapati along. One of the four officers had already reached there with Gaurav, and two others joined them. Prajapati was asked to go to Zalod with one of the men, who was later identified as Abdul Suleiman Gundiya of Dahod.
On way, Prajapati got a call from a person informing that the officers were conmen. He asked Gundiya to stop the motorcycle near Muvada village and started questioning him. Gundiya was exposed and was caught there.
Prajapati then called his son and returned to Sukhsar, where other men were waiting. One Bhavesh Acharya from Ahmedabad was held there, even as four others escaped. It came to light that Acharya was a driver provided by an outsourcing agency to the Vivekanand Nagar police station in Ahmedabad district. The accused revealed the details of the other accused.
Police arrested Umesh Patel and his brother Manish, who used to live in the same society where Acharya lived. Umesh is a home guard jawan posted in the Vivekanand Nagar police station. Acharya roped in the brothers for the con job.
The brother duo roped in state GST inspector Vipul Patel, a resident of Anand and presently posted in Vadodara. The information regarding Prajapati was provided to the accused by Gundiya and another Dahod resident, Rakesh Rathod. The accused also revealed the name of one Nayan Patel from Surat as an accomplice. Nayan and Rathod are yet to be nabbed.