Two men in Dahod were arrested on Saturday while four others booked for allegedly cheating a local money lender of Rs 2 lakh by posing as Income Tax (IT) officers and demanding the sum in the name of “settlement” against supposed tax evasion, police said.
On Friday, the six men arrived at the home of a local businessman and allegedly pretended to conduct a raid for IT evasion. The accused allegedly demanded Rs 25 lakh from the complainant, Alpesh Prajapati, a local licensed money lender for “settling the evasion”. Prajapati, in his complaint with Sukhsar police station, has said that the accused “inspected jewellery kept in the shop” on the premises and demanded a sum of Rs 25 lakh in lieu of “not confiscating jewellery” and “to settle the matter”. Prajapati informed the police that he told the accused that he had only Rs 2 lakh cash available with him.
“The men took the Rs 2 lakh and left. Later, when I informed a relative about the ‘raid’, he told me it ought to be a fraud. I immediately approached the police and lodged a complaint,” Prajapati said in his complaint.
The two accused who have been apprehended have been identified as Bhavesh Acharya and Abdul Suleman.
A senior official of the Dahod district police said, “Teams have been formed to look for the other four accused… investigation is underway.”
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