Fake I-T official turns out to be illiterate

Mohit Khanna

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 7

The imposter, who posed as a senior Income Tax (I-T) Official and conned Rakesh Gupta, owner of Khushi Ram Sweets, turned out to be illiterate.

Harinder Singh, alias Ditra of Rakba village in Jagraon, posed as the senior I-T official and reportedly did not utter a word.

During interrogation, the police came to know that Harinder was a former kabaddi player.

Harinder reportedly said he wore dark sunglasses, nicely polished shoes and was instructed not to utter a word.

When the police reportedly interrogated Harinder, he revealed that he was illiterate.

Today, a special police team went to Kishanpura and raided the house of international rower and sacked SI Jarnail Singh, who was the kingpin of the nine-member conning gang.

The police have, so far, recovered more than Rs 5 lakh from the possession of the accused while the remaining amount is yet to be recovered.

This is how the "Special 9" was formed
Police sources said it was Yugraj who had approached Jarnail and talked about the alleged cash transaction of Rakesh Gupta. Yugraj had worked as a security guard at the house and the business establishment of Rakesh for four years, the sources said.

They said Yugraj was allegedly jealous of Rakesh and his family’s extravagant lifestyle.

He was jailed for murdering his brother-in-law. After coming out of the jail, he began planning to make it big. Initially, Yugraj planned to inform the I-T Department about the alleged transactions of Rakesh. But he was not sure about the cut he would receive from the department.

Incidentally, he watched the movie, Special 26, and decided to conduct a fake raid.

Soon, he came in touch with Satnam Singh, who was working as a typist at the judicial complex in Jagraon. He discussed his plan with Cheebhar Singh, a quack. Harinder, Jagtar, Sarabjeet, Rajinder, and Sukhwinderpal too joined them.

They then started looking for a person who would pose as a police officer. Satnam suggested the name of Jarnial and that was how the "Special 9" was formed.

After being sacked from the police department on corruption charges, international rower Jarnail was looking for an opportunity to make a quick buck.

He headed the gang and started looking for the right opportunity to strike at Rakesh Gupta’s house.

The gang learnt about Jagannath Rath Yatra on November 16 and Jarnial reportedly told them to strike the same day as the police would be busy patrolling.

As per the plan, Jarnail posed as a police officer and the remaining gang members posed as I-T officials. They struck at the house of Rakesh and decamped with more than Rs 20 lakh in cash.