Monday, July 27, 2015

Kochi police arrest two for blackmailing builders

Times of India: Kochi: Monday, July 27, 2015.
Police have arrested two members of a gang, which duped money from builders, after filing right to information (RTI) applications. The gang would secure information on permit violations by builders through RTI reply and would blackmail them impersonating as mediapersons.
Mattancherry police have arrested Salahuddeen of Vandoor in Malappuram and a minor boy hailing from Panoor in Kannur. Police are yet to arrest Rajneesh Babu of Mattancherry. They have seized two knives, sketch of Fort Kochi and Mattancherry areas prepared using Google map and several RTI replies from the arrested.
The sketch seized by the police had map of areas in Fort Kochi including a prominent temple in Cherlai area. "Once the information was gathered through RTI, they would reach the construction site. They would then tell the builder that they were from newspaper named 'Nagaram', which is going to be published soon. Then would take photographs of the buildings to threaten the builders, who would offer them money,'' said P M Byju, circle inspector, Mattancherry.
Though some of the local residents were wary that the gang had terror links, police ruled it out. "As per our investigation, they are only into blackmailing. We couldn't find any terror link,'' said K G James, city police commissioner, Kochi.
Around 10 days ago, the duo along with Rajneesh Babu arrived at an inn attached to a temple in Cherlai. Then, they met some of the councillors in the area and collected money as part of raising funds for 'the newspaper they were to start immediately'. "They collected Rs 1,000 as donation from me for the paper. When they approached me, they introduced themselves giving Hindu names,'' said Syamala S Prabhu, councillor from Cherlai. "A couple of days later, a taxi driver reached Cherlai and inquired about one Salahuddeen residing in the inn. As the inn is attached to a temple, rooms are allotted only to Hindus. When we reached there inquiring about the incident none of the three were present,'' she said.
According to the taxi driver, they had hired his car a few days ago and vanished after getting off near Thoppumpady for 'business purpose'. "When the driver called them up, the gang told him that they were at Angamaly and would pay him the next day. On failing to get the taxi charges, he reached Cherlai. "Then, I checked the phone number they gave to me with the one which the taxi driver had. Both numbers were the same. We called up, but they didn't pick up. For the next two days, we kept watching and the trio came on Sunday. On seeing us the person named as Rajneesh Babu ran away, but we could catch Salavuddeen and the minor boy,'' she said.
Police said that they produced Salavuddeen before the court, which remanded him to judicial custody. The minor boy was produced before juvenile court and later sent to a juvenile home in Kakkanad.