The Soladevanahalli police on Thursday arrested a gang of four, including a 42-year-old man from Kerala, for allegedly posing as CBI officials and robbing students. The accused, Pramod, a hotel management course graduate working in a hotel in Thiruvananthapuram, used to visit his sister’s house in Hesaraghatta, where a group of four students from Kerala stayed in a rented house.
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Noticing the students’ lifestyle, Pramod hit upon an idea to make quick money and roped in his friends, Ananthakrishna, a college dropout, Deepak, a private firm employee, and Adarsha.
On Monday (May 27), they barged into the house of the students posing as CBI officials, flashing a gun and fake ID cards.
Charging the students with possessing drugs, they assaulted them. They forced the students to hold a packet of marijuana that they had brought with them and videographed them. The four attackers threatened the students with foisting a drug case against them and uploading the video on social media if they didn’t transfer ₹90,000.
After the money was transferred to Adarsha’s account, the miscreants began calling the students for more money, after which a police complaint was registered. A team of police led by Inspector G.N. Nagesh arrested the accused within 12 hours of the incident. A handcuff, fake ID cards, an air gun, an SUV, and four mobile phones were seized.