‘ED officers’ extort Rs 20 lakh from Delhi car showroom manager on pretext of settling complaint

Representative photo

Two men, one of them wearing a police uniform, allegedly pretended to be Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers and abducted the manager of a luxury car showroom before extorting Rs 20 lakh from him. The incident, which happened on June 20 in the upscale Chanakyapuri area, came to light nearly two weeks later after the victim, Anil Tiwari, filed a police complaint on July 2. Both accused have now been arrested, Hindustan Times reported.

Anil Tiwari, the manager of the Bentley India showroom at Hotel Samrat, was heading home on his scooter in Gurugram on June 20 when two men in a van stopped him near the Embassy of Hungary.

“One of the men was in a police uniform, the other in civilian clothes. They identified themselves as ED officers and claimed they were investigating a complaint about suspicious monetary transactions involving Tiwari,” HT quoted a police official as saying.

When Tiwari asked for more details, the men said they were there to serve a legal notice and insisted he come with them. Tiwari was then forced into their van and taken back to the Bentley showroom. Once there, the two accused claimed the case against him was serious and demanded Rs 20 lakh to ‘settle’ the matter. Fearing legal trouble, Tiwari handed over the cash he was carrying in a bag.

After taking the cash, the accused dropped him back near the scooter he had parked earlier. Tiwari later consulted colleagues and seniors who initially believed the men could be real officials, before deciding to go to the police, the officer cited above said.

An FIR was registered at the Chanakyapuri police station on July 2 under charges of abduction, wrongful confinement, and extortion. Police reviewed CCTV footage from the area and identified and arrested the two suspects from South Delhi on Sunday. One of the accused has a past case registered under the Excise Act, while the other has no previous criminal record.