Bengaluru GST Contract Staff Remanded After Posing as Intelligence Officers to Extort Trader

Overview

• Banashankari police arrested outsourced housekeeping workers Nagaraju P., 37, and Dadapeer Ballari, 35, on February 17 from a room allotted to them inside the Central GST office after a departmental complaint.
• The pair allegedly impersonated GST intelligence personnel, threatened a gutka trader in Peenya, and extracted ₹5 lakh on January 10 by invoking the risk of raids and legal action.
• Officers recovered ₹5 lakh in cash, three forged identity cards bearing intelligence officer and sepoy designations, and six fake search warrants during searches.
• A court sent the accused to six days of police custody on February 18, after which they were remanded to judicial custody on February 23.
• Police say the suspects admitted they were seeking quick money, and investigators are checking for other victims and how the counterfeit credentials were produced.