A gang that turned up at a family’s home in Delhi’s Prashant Vihar posing as CBI officers has been busted by the police. Seven people have been arrested in connection with the case.
Pratham Agarwal, who lives in Prashant Vihar, was at home with his mother when a group of around eight people, six men and two women, arrived outside their house. They did not return. Around this time, a message claiming to be an official CBI notice was also sent to the father’s mobile phone. The original message was later deleted, but the family had already saved a screenshot of it. When police examined it, they suspected it was fake, and built their investigation on that basis. Police then began going through CCTV footage from the scene, along with mobile phone data, the fake CBI notice and other documents.
The incident happened around 10 pm on 11 August. They said they were officers from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and claimed they had come to raid the property, like in the Bollywood film ‘ Special 26 ‘. Suspicious of what had happened, the family called 112 for police help straight away. Following the family’s complaint, a case was registered at Prashant Vihar police station on 19 August, under Sections 308(2), 351(2) and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
After neighbours got involved, the group claimed a notice had been issued in the name of Pratham Agarwal’s father, said it was in their vehicle, and left to fetch it. Asifa met Kuldeep Sharma at a family wedding around eight months ago, according to police.
When Pratham Agarwal and his mother asked to see a search warrant or any paperwork authorising the raid, the group allegedly began threatening them. They stayed outside the house for around an hour and a half, leaving the family shaken.
The group showed the family what they said were CBI identity cards and tried to enter the house.
