Fake cop extorts students

A day after a trio of fake police officers who had cheated a youth of Rs 80,000 were arrested, the Bhandup police, on Thursday, received two complaints from engineering students about extortion by a person posing as a policeman. The students were asked to cough up Rs 5 lakh each. “The cases involve a boy from Ghatkopar and one from Navi Mumbai,” said the police.

The boy from Ghatkopar is a businessman’s son and he was close to paying the accused Rs 1 lakh. However, his father intervened and approached the police. The boy from Navi Mumbai did not have money that was demanded by the accused so told his parents about the incident. They approached the police officials in their respective area.

The trio that was arrested on Wednesday claimed that the victim’s name had cropped up in the Mumbai University paper leak scam. Among the arrested, accused Prafulla Dingal Dive (38) used to train at a police camp until he was dismissed after seniors came to know that there were seven housebreaking cases registered against him all over Thane district. The second accused, Nilesh Satham (32), a Rabale resident, was Prafulla’s friend and used to work as a real estate agent. The third accused, Nilofar Shaikh (30), was a Govandi resident.

The trio used to target engineering students and often approached them posing as police officers. An official said, “We had received a complaint from a 20-year-old Bhandup resident who had been approached by these accused and told that his name had come up in the Mumbai University engineering paper scam and he would be arrested soon. The accused told him that they would save him if he paid them Rs 5 lakh.”

The victim agreed to the deal and paid Rs 40,000. He also made a second payment of Rs 40,000 but could no longer make any further payments. Ultimately, he approached the police and they managed to arrest the accused.