Rourkela, June 11: Udit Nagar police today arrested a Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable for allegedly abusing and cheating a young businessman of cash in the guise of a police inspector.

The accused had lured the youth through one of his female companions.

The police said complainant Ranjit Gupta, 22, who owns wholesale business of grocery items at Brajaraj Nagar, had lodged a police complaint against the accused, Sikandar Gardia, 31, and two other women.

Gupta was in touch with one of the accused in the city after they had got to know each other through a chance telephone call. The lady had called him to Rourkela and Gupta came to the city yesterday to meet her.

While the two of them were talking in a room rented by the girl at Udit Nagar, the accused, a RPF constable, and his wife reached there. Sikandar’s wife is also an RPF constable. They beat up him and took away cash worth Rs 12,000 from him.

“Sikandar and his wife posed themselves as inspector and sub-inspector of Udit Nagar police station. They physically and verbally abused the complainant before taking away the cash from him,” said investigating officer Hemangini Madan.

They hired an autorickshaw and took him to the police station. On the way they got down telling Gupta to reach the police station.

A suspicious Gupta went to the police station. However, he was told that no such officers existed.

The police registered a case and arrested the accused. Sikandar was produced before court. The police have seized Rs 5,000 in cash from him. “We are investigating the involvement of Sikandar’s wife and the other lady,” said a police officer.

An official said the lady, who was in touch with the complainant and called him to the city, had been missing since the incident happened. “We suspect that she was also involved in the crime. Besides, we suspect her involvement in many such activities in the past, but the victims had not lodged complaints,” he said.

In another development, Bishra police arrested three youths involved in extortion and other crimes in the area and seized a country-made pistol from them. An official said they had got complaints about the involvement of these youths in crimes in the area and a raid was conducted to arrest them. They were also found involved in many other crimes in the district and nearby areas.