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Conmen case: CBI to probe role of its officers
These gang members have invested heavily in property business as documents of 10 plots and three houses located in Panipat were found.
Mumbai: The CBI on Friday said, it was looking into the possible involvement of some of its officers in the case, in which, two conmen were arrested for allegedly posing as CBI officers and duping people, including top business and Bollywood personalities.
In August, the Anti Corruption Wing of CBI had arrested two persons, Ashwini Sharma and Rajesh Ranjan, for impersonating as senior CBI officers and demanding money from people. They had duped over hundred people and collected several crore rupees from all of them, including filmmaker Rakesh Roshan.
"We are looking into, whether the arrested accused had received help from any CBI officers. We have kept this also in mind, while investigating the case," Joint Director, Western Region, Rishiraj Singh told reporters.
He added, that during the searches conducted at Sharma`s residence in Panipat, the agency recovered several bogus documents, resembling FIR copies and court documents and are hence probing, if the accused were helped by any officer of the investigating agency to prepare the papers. Singh further said, that they are on a look-out for one Anirudh Agarwal, an absconding associate of the accused, who also hails from Panipat. "Agarwal is a childhood friend of Sharma and was helping him invest the money collected by duping others. Agarwal used to invest the money in real estate, gold and shares," he said.
The agency has announced an award of Rs 50,000 to those, who provide information about Agarwal`s whereabouts. According to the agency, the accused have been cheating people, since 2006 by posing as CBI officers. They have so far duped over hundred people including Bollywood personalities, businessmen and builders.
The agency has also recovered 26 kg of gold, worth crores of rupess from one of the bank lockers belonging to Sharma in Panipat.
These gang members have invested heavily in property business as documents of 10 plots and three houses located in Panipat were found. So far 28 people, who were conned by the gang, have approached the CBI.
Ranjan, an MBA hailing from Bihar, allegedly used to claim himself as a person having good contacts with CBI, customs and other agencies and his partner Sharma, as senior CBI official, who had friendly terms with him.
During the course of his stay in Mumbai, Ranjan had developed good contacts in the film and business circles. He also moved with girls to attract the public and to project that he has so much social contacts to get the work done, CBI sources claimed.
Seeing his lifestyle, attire and relations with senior officers, people used to approach him with their problems and allegedly paid money for getting their work done.
On the other hand, Sharma played the role of a senior CBI official to good effect and even used a car with beacon, which resembled an official vehicle to impress people.
"He approached film personalities, businessmen and other high profile members of public as a senior CBI officer and used to threaten them with arrest and legal action and thereby used to obtain huge amount of money on a ground of closing the CBI investigation," a CBI official said.
PTI
In August, the Anti Corruption Wing of CBI had arrested two persons, Ashwini Sharma and Rajesh Ranjan, for impersonating as senior CBI officers and demanding money from people. They had duped over hundred people and collected several crore rupees from all of them, including filmmaker Rakesh Roshan.
"We are looking into, whether the arrested accused had received help from any CBI officers. We have kept this also in mind, while investigating the case," Joint Director, Western Region, Rishiraj Singh told reporters.
He added, that during the searches conducted at Sharma`s residence in Panipat, the agency recovered several bogus documents, resembling FIR copies and court documents and are hence probing, if the accused were helped by any officer of the investigating agency to prepare the papers. Singh further said, that they are on a look-out for one Anirudh Agarwal, an absconding associate of the accused, who also hails from Panipat. "Agarwal is a childhood friend of Sharma and was helping him invest the money collected by duping others. Agarwal used to invest the money in real estate, gold and shares," he said.
The agency has announced an award of Rs 50,000 to those, who provide information about Agarwal`s whereabouts. According to the agency, the accused have been cheating people, since 2006 by posing as CBI officers. They have so far duped over hundred people including Bollywood personalities, businessmen and builders.
The agency has also recovered 26 kg of gold, worth crores of rupess from one of the bank lockers belonging to Sharma in Panipat.
These gang members have invested heavily in property business as documents of 10 plots and three houses located in Panipat were found. So far 28 people, who were conned by the gang, have approached the CBI.
Ranjan, an MBA hailing from Bihar, allegedly used to claim himself as a person having good contacts with CBI, customs and other agencies and his partner Sharma, as senior CBI official, who had friendly terms with him.
During the course of his stay in Mumbai, Ranjan had developed good contacts in the film and business circles. He also moved with girls to attract the public and to project that he has so much social contacts to get the work done, CBI sources claimed.
Seeing his lifestyle, attire and relations with senior officers, people used to approach him with their problems and allegedly paid money for getting their work done.
On the other hand, Sharma played the role of a senior CBI official to good effect and even used a car with beacon, which resembled an official vehicle to impress people.
"He approached film personalities, businessmen and other high profile members of public as a senior CBI officer and used to threaten them with arrest and legal action and thereby used to obtain huge amount of money on a ground of closing the CBI investigation," a CBI official said.
PTI