Remember Special 26, a 2013 Hindi film in which Akshay Kumar plays a fake CBI officer to con politicians, bureaucrats and all the famous people? 

In real life, a 34-year-old man in Bengaluru played the role to almost perfection and extorted lakhs of rupees from industrialists, businessmen and builders. He exploited the common man’s fear of the CBI to the hilt. But he wasn’t invincible as the protagonist in the film. 

The Central Crime Branch (CCB) not only arrested him but also seized Rs 24 lakh in cash and two Mercedes-Benz cars from him. 

M P Abhilash, a resident of Annasandrapalya, HAL, is accused of extorting at least 20 people by threatening to throw them in jail. Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), said Abhilash carefully picked his victims. He targeted people he thought would have lots of unaccounted-for cash. 

End of run

Abhilash’s run was halted when one of his victims, a real estate businessman, suspected something fishy and approached the police. The realtor had planned to open a software company by investing money from his real estate business. Abhilash somehow learnt about it. Posing as a CBI officer, he met the realtor at a hotel and promised him all help. 

After a few days, Abhilash told the realtor that he knew about his “illegal” wealth and threatened to book him if he didn’t pay him Rs 1 crore. He eventually settled at Rs 24 lakh.

But when Abhilash started asking for more, the realtor got alerted and went to the cops.