Fake vigilance officer held for extortion

CHENNAI: Sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption busted a gang that extorted money to the tune of several lakhs of rupees by posing themselves as vigilance officers.  In a release, the DVAC said that a case was filed against E Radhakrishnan of Gafoor Street, Royapettah, on a complaint by S Raveendran, Junior Drafting Officer, PWD, Project Circle, Vellore. He had stated that he received a call from a mobile number six months ago. The caller claimed that there was a vigilance plaint against him and in order to avoid arrest he must pay bribe to the officers handling his enquiry. The man demanded `2 lakh for settling the issue. The caller then asked the complainant to pay `2 lakh near the Vigilance Office in Nandanam. Raveendran deputed his son Anand Babu to hand over the money to the person near the entrance of the Housing Board Office, Nandanam. After 15 days, the person again contacted the complainant and extracted money. The caller identified himself as K Radhakrishnan of Royapettah. He further threatened and extracted money from him on six occasions and told Raveendran to deposit money in accounts in various banks.On February 14, Radhakrishnan called the complainant and demanded ` 1.5 lakh as a final settlement. Unable to pay up, he lodged a complaint with the DVAC.Radhakrishnan confessed that it was D Mohanraj (54), a record clerk at the office of the Superintending Engineer, PWD, Project Circle, Vellore, who gave the idea of extracting money from the complainant. He extracted money from Raveendran with the help of Mohanraj and D Kanniappan of Vellore, in whose account the money was deposited.