- Wednesday, March 12, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
In a news that would sound bizarre to many, an Indian gang ran a fake police station from a hotel and near the house of the area’s actual police chief for no less than eight months during when its members dressed as law-keepers and allegedly extorted money from several people, official sources said.
According to a report by The Guardian, the gang in the eastern state of Bihar, including women, set up their ‘police station’ barely 500 metres from the residence of the actual police chief in charge of the area. They wore uniforms with rank badges and carried guns, the real police officer named DC Srivastava told the publication on Thursday (18).
Incidents of fraudsters posing as police officers or soldiers are not uncommon in India, thanks to the general fear and admiration that the common people have for those in uniform, but running a bogus police station took it to another level.
In the incident in Bihar, the fake cops would charge local people coming to their station to file complaints and take money in exchange for promises to help them get social housing or jobs in the police.
However, the scam got exposed when a genuine police officer saw two members of the gang carrying locally made guns instead of service weapons.
But the scam fell apart when a genuine police officer spotted two members of the gang carrying guns made in local workshops instead of service-issue weapons.
At least six members of the gang, including two women, were arrested but the ringleader was yet to be caught, Srivastava said, adding, “[An] investigation is under way in the case. More information will come to light.”
