Delhi police arrest man on extortion charges

With the arrest of one person, Delhi police today claimed to have busted a gang who used to pose as BSES employees to gain entry into houses for checking electricity meters and extract money from the power consumers.
The police received a complaint from a Chirag Dilli resident that a team of seven persons claiming to be BSES employees entered her house and after alleging that the power meter was temperered, extracted Rs one lakh to settle a penalty of Rs 5 lakh.
A case was registered at Malviya Nagar police station in connection with the complaint.
After gathering information during investigation, a Crime Branch team received a tip-off and laid a trap at Bhairon Mandir near Pragati Maidan and arrested Manoj Kumar Pandey who earlier worked as contract worker with BSES, said Ravindra Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime).

Police interrogation of the arrested accused revealed that a gang was extorting money from the power consumers in different areas.
Pandey revealed that his gang during the first visit of a targeted house deliberately tempered with the power meter of the consumer.
A fake flying squad paid the next visit to accuse the consumer of power theft and put pressure on him pointing to a huge penalty amount and finally making him cough up money for settlement of the matter, said the officer.
The gang members were ex-employees of BSES who were well aware of the procedures of the company. Further investigation is on and efforts are on to arrest the remaining gang members, added the officer.