After 1,200 km-long car chase, Mumbai crime branch arrests fake IPS officer

After a nearly 1,200 km-long car chase for over 24 hours, a 38-year-old man, posing as an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from Bengaluru, who allegedly abducted a Surat businessman and extorted Rs 15 lakh, was arrested by Mumbai police crime branch officials, according to ANI.

A report by Hindustan Times stated that the impersonator-cum-extortionist was identified as one Shiv Shankar Sharma, who is a resident of Byavar in Rajasthan’s Ajmer district. Sharma, who posed as a senior IPS officer, allegedly contacted businessman Mohammed Ehtesham Aslam Naviwala, who is into garment export business, and informed him about registration of a complaint against him at the directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) for some customs and export-norms related violations.

Sharma offered to solve the matter by mediating and called Naviwala to a four-star hotel in Marine Drive. During the negotiation, there was a heated argument between Naviwala, Sharma and his associates. “They (then) assaulted Naviwala, abused him and confined him to the room. They later threatened and kidnapped him on gunpoint and later drove him to Gujarat to collect the ransom. He was harassed and was released only after he managed to pay cash to the accused,” a crime branch officer told the publication requesting anonymity.

Naviwala then approached Gujarat and Mumbai police. After a preliminary inquiry, the Marine Drive police registered a case, pressing officials of Mumbai crime branch’s anti-extortion cell (AEC) to look into the matter.

According to the report, AEC officials used technological surveillance and information from reliable sources to trace Sharma’s location in Gujarat. When an AEC team reached Gujarat, they had a hard time nabbing Sharma as he kept on changing his location.

“We chased him from Gujarat to Bengaluru for over 24 hours by road and eventually nabbed him in Bengaluru on Tuesday. He was brought to Mumbai and was placed under arrest,” the officer added.

Another crime branch officer told the publication that Sharma had learnt through an associate that there was an existing complaint against Naviwala in DRI and therefore, he hatched a conspiracy to extort money from the businessman.

Further investigations revealed that Sharma was a seasoned offender. He was arrested last year for impersonating an IPS officer and duping an eatery owner of several lakhs of rupees in Madhya Pradesh. He reportedly also cheated a female police officer from Gujarat police by promising to marry her and then scooting off after taking a large amount of money from her.

Sharma, who is currently in police custody, has been booked under sections 170 (impersonating a public servant), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 323 (assault), 342 (wrongful confinement), 364A (kidnapping for ransom, 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of hurt), 504 (abuse) and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code and 3 and 25 of the Arms Act.