Crime Beat: Extortionist, car thieves, fake gold and fake Jet Airways

EMN Dimapur, November 4 The wave of force and fraud across Nagaland doesn’t appear to be ebbing if daily updates form the police authorities are anything to go by. As usual, extortion and car theft are included in Wednesday’s police menu. However, for a change this time police have also caught several people charged with fraud – conmen selling fake ‘gold’ and conmen posing as officials of Jet Airways. Dimapur and Kohima police issued press releases on Wednesday offering updates about the week’s catch. Extortion: NSCN-U cadre caught red-handed The rampant sage of extortion by underground cadres continues in the state. On November 2, the Anti-Extortion team of the District Executive Force of Kohima apprehended one cadre of the underground NSCN-U ‘red-handed while demanding money’ from a shop located at South Point market in Kohima. “Police have recovered Rs 5000 cash from his possession. The cadre was later identified as one SS. Pvt. Hoto Achumi (25 yrs) S/o – Pukhavi Achumi, Village – Mukalimi, PO/PS – Pughoboto, Dist – Zunheboto,” a press release from the Kohima police authorities stated. “In this connection, a regular case vide Kohima South PS Case No. 0111/2015 U/S 384 IPC r/w 7 NSR is registered against him for conducting further investigation,” the police said. Suspicious client reports car thieves to police That’s what smart and genuine car buyers do. Police said that on the November 1, a citizen had lodged a complaint with the Kohima police stating that his vehicle, a Maruti, was stolen by the driver on October 29. The vehicle had the registration number NL01T-8052. “Accordingly, lookout notice was circulated to all state police through the Inter-State Police Wireless (ISPW) with the request to seize the said vehicle if spotted in their jurisdiction. Accordingly information was received from the counterpart Assam police that, the vehicle has been seized and three persons were detained under Borpathar Police Station,” the police stated. The Anti-Vehicle Squad of Kohima police proceeded to Borpathar Police Station on the 2nd and took custody of the vehicle as well as the three detained individuals. “On through interrogation, it came to light that the driver along with two of his accomplices took the vehicle to Borpathar with the intention to it for a sum of Rs. 75,000 and since, no probable customers were readily available, they were not able to dispose off (sic) the vehicle at the projected amount,” the police said. “But later, they met a probable buyer and they decided to sell it off for a nominal amount of Rs. 40,000. However, the buyer got suspicious as the amount quoted was too less for such a vehicle and decided to inquire from the police station.” The police said that the buyer approached Borpathar police station to enquire about the genuineness of the Maruti car. “Since, the police station was already in receipt of the information passed on by Kohima Police, the said vehicle was seized and all the three culprits arrested…” the police said. The accused have been identified as Raphael Suren, 33-year-old man from Sumpur village under Godda district in Jarkhand; Raju Pradhan, a 34-year-old man from Hatikhuli village under Golaghta district in Assam; Vikash alias Sagar Chetri, a 25-year-old man from Bokhara village in Nepal. “In this connection, a criminal case vide Kohima North PS Case No. 0094/2015 U/S 379 IPC is registered against them and they have been produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Kohima on 03/11/2015 and remanded into police custody for conducting further investigation,” the police stated. Fake Fake Fake: Fake Airways officials A fake-gold-rush is on. Conmen selling fake employment in airline companies and conmen selling fake gold seem to be keeping busy. Police have arrested seven persons in connection to the offence of fraud. On November 1, Dimapur police arrested four persons from Galaxy Hotel in Dimapur when they were posing as officials of Jet Airways and reportedly conducting interviews for appointment into the company. “The police on receipt of information raided the room in which they were staying and seized several incriminating documents and items including appointment letters, seals of the Jet Airways. Enquiry into the matter revealed that they were conmen falsely representing the company and had already issued appointment letters to 15 (fifteen) candidates,” the police stated. “Their modus operandi included charging of registration fees from those appointed, direct appointment to various posts at the cost of prices fixed as per the position, etc.” The four arrested persons have been identified as Saurav Mehra, Chamanlal, Manoj Sachdeva and Deepak Suri. “They all hail from Punjab,” police said. The Dimapur police have appealed to citizens who have been cheated ‘in this particular case,’ to assist and cooperate with the police by coming to East Police Station and give their statements. “Further, an appeal is made to the public in general to be cautious of various advertisements appearing in print and social media offering employment. Any suspicious advertisement may be brought to the notice of the police for verification,” the press release stated. Fake gold merchants In a similar incident, but this one involving metal, Dimapur Police have arrested on November 2 three persons who had claimed to be gold merchants. They were “in the process of luring innocent victims by trying to sell off gold coloured metals as gold,” the police said. “Their modus operandi includes identification of possible buyer who are tricked into believing that one is buying Gold at a throw away price from some ignorant sellers. The victims are even given real gold for testing scrapped from the body of the metal which are actually prefixed,” the authorities stated. “After striking the deal and making payments, most buyers are only too late to realize that the supposed gold is some metal mould while the sellers are long gone,” the police said. The authorities have arrested three conmen. They have been identified as Ahadul Islam, Md Raul Amin and Hussain Ali, all hailing from Nagaon in Assam. “Two gold coloured metal weighing approximately 750 gms were also seized from their possession. A case has been registered at East Police Station for further investigation,” the police said.