The arrested youths have confessed to their offenses, and further investigations are underway to determine if there are additional accomplices involved in the scheme.
Suryapet: Huzurnagar police arrested four individuals posing as sub-inspectors on Sunday during a vehicle check at Gopalapuram. The suspects, identified as Chinthala Cheruvu Prashath (23) and Chithala Cheruvu Akshith (24) from Nidmanoor, Sheil Irfan (22) from Nalgonda, and Sheik Wazid from Hymath Nagar, were found extorting money from local jewellery shop owners, with Rs 24,000 recovered from their possession.
According to Huzurnagar sub-inspector Muthaiah, the arrested people used photos of actual police officers downloaded from the Internet as profile pictures on Truecaller, and leveraged Google Maps to identify potential targets in Huzurnagar and its surroundings. The imposters contacted jewellery shop owners, falsely claiming to have information linking them to gold purchases from thieves. One such incident involved Shiva Kumar, owner of a jewellery shop at Tirumalgiri, who was coerced into transferring Rs 52,000 via UPI. In another case, Naveen Kumar, proprietor of Srinidhi Jewellery Shop at Huzurnagar, handed over Rs 10,000 after receiving a similar threat. Growing suspicious, Naveen Kumar subsequently reported the incident to the police.
The arrested youths have confessed to their offenses, and further investigations are underway to determine if there are additional accomplices involved in the scheme.
