Ex-home guard held yet again for extortion

Along with aide, he had forced techie couple to pay up Rs 60,000

A home guard, who was dismissed from service for robbing  couples by posing as a policeman, has been arrested again on a similar charge. In the latest incident, he along with an accomplice extorted Rs 60,000 in cash from a couple on Nice Road on the evening of December 19, 2015.

Wearing khaki trousers, Raghu, 29, and his associate Govindu, 43, had extorted money from Varun, a software engineer, and his female friend by forcing them to draw from Canara Bank ATMs, the Thalaghattapura police said.

Raghu had worked as a home guard for two years. But the lure of a fast buck drove him to crime. He partnered Govindu and started targeting young couples at secluded spots. He was found involved in two such incidents. He was jailed and dismissed from service, the police said.

Raghu got bail but refused to mend his ways. On December 19, he and Govindu targeted Varun and his friend who had pulled in at the side of Nice Road, off Bannerghatta Road. Posing as policemen, the duo asked the couple to come to the police station for “causing nuisance in public”. Varun tried to reason with the men but in vain.

The duo then demanded bribe to let them go. Varun pleaded that he had no cash but they asked him to go to an ATM kiosk.

They got into Varun’s car and made him and his female colleague draw from the ATMs in Thalaghattapura. The duo pocketed the money and warned the couple not to repeat such “mistakes” and sped off. Varun sensed something amiss in the whole incident and approached the police.

A senior police officer said, “We found that two cases with a similar modus operandi were reported in Ramanagar Rural and Rajarajeshwari Nagar police station limits, in which Raghu was arrested. We checked the call detail record of Raghu’s mobile phone number and found that he was on Nice Road the day the incident took place. We were sure he was at it again. We questioned him and he spilled the beans.”

The police said they had recovered Rs 52,000 in cash, a car, which was used in the crime, and khaki trousers from the suspects.

The duo hails from Ramanagar district. Raghu is a car driver while Govindu works as a lorry helper.