Seven 'fake' journalists held

By Our Staff Reporter

NIZAMABAD, JULY 9. The Nizamabad police, on Sunday, arrested eight persons, including seven Hyderabad-based self-styled journalists, who allegedly extorted Rs.15,000 from a petrol pump owner in Mancherial town of Adilabad district, disguising themselves as officials of the Legal Metrology Department. The arrests occurred under dramatic circumstances and till the eight persons were picked up their identity as journalists was not known to the police.

The One Town Sub-Inspector, Mr. E. Chandrasekhar Goud, received a call from the petrol pump owner informing him about the presence of eight persons, who arrived by a Tata Sumo and checked into a hotel.

The police were told that the owner a petrol dealer in Mancherial town had alerted some owners in Nizamabad and Karimnagar districts about a gang of eight persons, who were posing as officials of the Legal Metrology Department and extorting money. He said he was cheated by the culprits in the wee hours of Saturday. The owner of the hotel who also operates the petrol pump nearby noted down the vehicle number and alerted the police.

When the Sub-Inspector raided the hotel they flashed visiting and identity cards, claiming that they were journalists representing a television network as well as a news agency. The SI then asked them to accompany him to the police station. The local police then sought the help of local journalists to verify whether any such television network and the news agency existed in Hyderabad but drew a blank. They claimed that they provided video footage to a local TV network's Hindi news service. Enquiries revealed otherwise.

The police identified seven of the eight persons as representatives of Media Vision TV network, Darvesh News Service (DNS) and Hi-tech news service (HNS). Three of them, Bhupal Chandel, Md. Ayub Khan and Syed Safdar Ali, claimed that they were reporters for the said organisations, which were floated by one person and operating from Abids area of Hyderabad in 1996. Two other persons, D. Pratap claimed he was the cameraman of the TV network while, another Dara Sanjay, posed as the photographer of the news agency. Apart from them, two more employees of the agency, Joseph and John, helped them in their clandestine business.

The eight persons, when they were told that the Mancherial police had received a complaint that they extorted money vehemently denied the charge. But, persistent questioning led to recovery of Rs.5,000 from the vehicle in which they travelled. They finally confessed that they had stopped at the petrol pump in Mancherial where they saw a person entering into an argument with the employee over the quantity of petrol.

Two of the occupants, Md. Ayub Khan and Sanjay, immediately got down from the vehicle, caught hold of the petrol pump employee and threatened them that they were officials from the Legal Metrology Department and warned them of sealing the petrol station for cheating. The panic stricken employee, got in touch with the owner, who shelled out Rs.15,000 as demanded by the gang.

Meanwhile, the Bellampalli Additional SP, Mr. Mahesh M. Bhagwat, said the Mancherial police had received a complaint from the petrol pump owner, Mr. M. Ramachandra Rao, that eight persons had visited his station at about 3.30 a.m. on Saturday and threatened to book a case of cheating.

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