Patna, Dec. 21: Six men, who used to pose as vigilance officers and stop heavy vehicles to extort money, were arrested in the state capital. The imposters, however, aided their own arrest by calling up the Kotwali police station.

They had called up the police station yesterday morning when a truck driver they stopped near Kotwali Chowk refused to give in to their demands. When the police asked them to reveal their identity, they gave vague answers that made the cops suspicious. The charlatan vigilance officers were taken into custody and later spilled the beans.

Describing their modus operandi, Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Alok Kumar today said the arrested, identified as Amitabh Niranjan, Raj Lal Singh Patel, Kunj Bihari Tiwary, Abhay Singh, Ajay Tiwary and Santosh Singh, used to move around in an SUV. A board claiming that the vehicle belonged to “Central Vigilance Officer, Anti-Corruption Investigation Crime Control, All India” was fixed to give the SUV an official look.

“They used to target heavy vehicles. Yesterday, the men stopped a truck driver at the Kotwali Chowk and demanded money. The truck driver, however, refused to give in to their demands. The over confident men called up the Kotwali police and asked the officers to come down to the spot. When they were asked to reveal their identities, the men gave some strange answers, which made the police suspicious. They were taken into custody. Later, they spilled the beans during interrogation,” said the SSP.

He added: “When the team from Kotwali police station asked the men under what section of CrPc (Criminal Procedure Code) were they checking vehicles, the false vigilance officers replied that they had never met CrPc, and would reply only to him. That was enough for the cops.”

During interrogation, the men said they had started the racket in 2007.

“We are trying to find out if any FIR has been lodged against them at any police station in Patna. They used to operate in other districts as well. Anyone in Patna, who has been duped by them, should immediately lodge an FIR,” the SSP said.

In net

The police today nabbed one P. Suresh Kumar, a resident of Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, who, along with three people, used to first lure people with money and then loot them.

“Around 10.30am today, a car was parked near the GPO roundabout. The driver was in his seat. There was a briefcase in the car. Two people came up to the driver and said some money was on the ground in front of the car. The driver got out in search of the money. Suresh, who was hiding nearby, picked up the briefcase from the car and tried to flee. The driver, however, raised an alarm and a Quick Mobile team and a traffic constable caught him after a brief chase. His associates, however, managed to escape. We are interrogating Suresh,” the SSP said.