Bengaluru: In a brazen inside-job, two housekeeping staff allegedly impersonated GST officers, staged a sham raid, and extorted Rs 5 lakh from a tobacco trader. Their deception unravelled when vigilance officials noticed a sudden and conspicuous change in their lifestyle.The accused, Nagaraj P, 37, and Dadafir Ballari, 35, were outsourced housekeeping staff at the office of the Principal Commissioner of Central Tax and GST Commissionerate (Bengaluru West), housed in the BMTC bus stand building in Banashankari. Well-versed in the officers’ dress code, routines, and raid procedures, the duo allegedly leveraged their insider knowledge to carry out a meticulously staged impersonation.
Suspicion over their behaviour prompted a surprise inspection by vigilance officials Tuesday. A search of their room inside the office premises revealed cash bundles, Rs 1 lakh with Dadafir and Rs 1.5 lakh with Nagaraj, along with a few forged identity cards and fake search warrants.Among the recovered items were three bogus ID cards bearing Nagaraj’s photograph but different designations: a CLTS staff member, an intelligence officer named Gaurav Kumar, and even a sepoy — all falsely shown as issued by the ministry of finance’s GST office. Officials also seized six fabricated search warrant orders purportedly issued by govt authorities.Investigators soon uncovered the duo’s alleged modus operandi. Posing as GST intelligence officials, they reportedly conducted a fake raid on a tobacco trader’s office in Peenya on Jan 1. Threatening to seize goods and file cases, they coerced the trader into paying Rs 5 lakh. The Rs 2.5 lakh recovered from them is believed to be part of the extorted amount.An officer said the duo exploited their proximity to real officials to mimic procedures convincingly. “They knew how officers dressed, spoke, and conducted raids. That familiarity helped them gain the trader’s trust and intimidate him,” the officer said.An officer said the duo exploited their proximity to real officials to imitate procedures convincingly. “They knew how officers dressed, spoke, and conducted raids. That familiarity allowed them to gain the trader’s trust and intimidate him,” the officer added.The accused have been remanded to judicial custody, while investigators plan to seek their police custody to probe whether other traders were duped, how the fake IDs and warrants were created, and the role of the outsourcing firm that had deployed them to the GST office.A case has been registered at Banashankari police station under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
