The Chennai Suburban Police on Friday arrested two men for posing as Income Tax officers and demanding Rs.50,000 from a lorry owner.
A press release from the suburban police Commissioner S.R.Jangid said A.Venkatachalam (42) of Salem district had come to Chennai in his lorry with a load of paper and off-loaded it at an agency in Madhavaram.
Around 11 p.m. on Friday, two men arrived in a taxi that had the sticker ‘On Duty. Income Tax, Government of India.'
They introduced themselves as IT officers and asked Venkatachalam to show his vehicle's papers and demanded Rs.50,000. Venkatachalam grew suspicious and informed the police control room. Personnel from Madhavaram police station picked up the two men, Bharathiraja (22) of Thanjavur, owner of the taxi and his accomplice Kuppusamy (46) of Erode. Bharathiraja was a car driver for senior I-T officers, the release said.
Held for cheating
Central Crime Branch personnel of Suburban Police arrested two men, R.Bhaskar (40) and Kalaivanan (24), on charges of collecting Rs.15 lakh from more than 30 persons after promising them land at a prime location in Tambaram.
S.Navaneethakrishnan, Assistant Commissioner of Police, said the two men approached poor, unsuspecting people and promised them to book flats in the tenements to be constructed by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board in Sakthi Nagar, Peerkankaranai.
They had collected sums ranging from Rs.30,000 to Rs.50,000 from their victims, mostly daily wage earners and pavement vendors. The two men had told their victims that the money was needed to bribe officials at TNSCB to confirm their allotment of flats. The men had prepared fake documents and gave them to their victims. As there was no progress even after some months since they made the payment CCB men arrested the two and remanded them in judicial custody on Saturday.
Detained under Goondas Act
Saravanan and R.Raja, both aged 22, have been detained under the Goondas Act for their involvement in a series of robberies in Velachery and Pallikaranai areas. They would target software professionals travelling alone, assault them with weapons and rob them of their cash, cellphones and other valuables. The youths belong to Perungudi.
