A man who masqueraded as an ACB officer and three of his associates have been arrested for extorting Rs 10 lakh from three BDA engineers on the pretext of removing their names from the anti-corruption agency’s case files.
The main accused, Chetan Kumar, 33, worked as a computer operator and is from Nagarabavi. The other three are Banashankari residents Praveen Kumar, 27, Manoj Kumar, 46, and Vinay Kumar, 35. They were arrested on the basis of a complaint filed earlier this month by Aravind, BDA assistant engineer, HSR Layout.
“Aravind and two other engineers, Mahadeva Gowda and Govinda Raju, were entrusted with acting against illegal land sale in Kadubeesanahalli and surrounding areas. On November 19, 2021, ACB raided BDA offices and one file pertaining to an agricultural land near Kadubeesanahalli, handled by the three engineers, was seized,” an investigating officer said.
Chetan got wind of the case and hatched a conspiracy with the others. He also spoke to the engineers and told them he knew people in the ACB who could be of help in fixing the issue. “Pretending to be ACB officials, one of the other accused called the engineers on WhatsApp and demanded Rs 10 lakh to remove their names from the files. He directed the engineers to take Chetan’s help to send the money. Chetan received the money at a coffee shop in Sadashivanagar recently,” the officer said.
However, Aravind grew suspicious and approached ACB officials, only to find that no one from the bureau had called him or the other two engineers.
