Kurnool: Cops bust extortion gang, arrest 6

Kurnool: Police arrested six members of an eight-member extortion gang which used to threaten government officials posing as Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials. Giving details of the arrests, Trainee IPS officer Kommi Pratap Shiva Kishore and town in-charge DSP Venkatramaiah told the media at II Town police station here on Wednesday that a search is on for two more gang members.

Shiva Kishore said eight persons identified as S Jaya Krishna, Uday Kumar, Tamitigolla Gangaiah, Joladarasi Solman Raju, Boddu Sai Kumar, Narayana Swamy, Hosunur Narayanappa Govindarajulu and R Hemanth Kumar belonging to Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka formed a gang during their jail terms. The gang was led by S Jaya Krishna.

Their modus operandi is call up government officials of mines, R&B, irrigation and other departments, introducing themselves as ACB officers stationed in Vijayawada headquarters. They threaten the officials that they had received information about their misconduct and conduct raids at any time. To stop the raids, they demanded the officials money. In this manner, they collected Rs 14,34,249 from 70 to 80 persons, according to Shiva Kishore.

However, the racket came to light when an executive engineer of R&B lodged a complaint with II Town police after being threatened. Police who began investigation, took six persons who confessed to the crime.

Two more accused, S Jaya Krishna and Uday Kumar, are yet to be arrested.