Bengal: 3 held for posing as NIA officers, extorting money during voter-list revision

Kolkata, Nov 23 Three persons have been arrested for financial fraud of lakhs of rupees by impersonating themselves as National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials, the police said on Sunday.

It is alleged that they collected money in the name of correcting the documents of many for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters' list. A raid by the Intelligence Department and the Special Operation Group (SOG) of Siliguri Police arrested the trio from north Bengal.

According to police sources, three people used to call common people by impersonating high-ranking officials of the National Investigation Agency. Allegedly, they used to extort money from several people by threatening them.

A written complaint was filed against the three people at the Matigara police station in Siliguri, alleging financial fraud.

The police's Intelligence Department and the Special Operation Group (SOG) of the Siliguri Police Commissionerate started an investigation into the matter. They adopted various methods to catch the accused.

On Saturday, the police caught the three red-handed by tracking their mobile locations.

The police recovered several mobile phones and photocopies of various documents from the arrested people. A car was also seized.

Deputy Commissioner of Police of Siliguri Police Commissionerate, Rakesh Singh said: "The accused used to mislead the common people by posing as NIA officers. After that complaint was filed, all three have been arrested. However, there are many more behind this gang. A search is on to catch them."

The arrested persons have been identified as Ahsan Ahmed and Rehar Babar, who are residents of Panjipara; and Manik Roy, a resident of Sevoke Road in Siliguri.

According to the police, the three used to roam around Siliguri and its surrounding areas under false identities of NIA officials, targeting various people and allegedly taking money by intimidating them in various ways.

It is also learnt that the trio used to mislead many people by using their fake identities during the ongoing SIR exercise in the state. It is also alleged that they took lakhs of rupees from many people in the name of getting their documents fixed.

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