3 min readBengaluruJul 14, 2026 06:19 PM IST
The Central Crime Branch of the Bengaluru police said Tuesday that they arrested five habitual offenders for posing as CCB officers, kidnapping a 25-year-old gym trainer, and demanding Rs 5 lakh by threatening to implicate him in a narcotics case.
When a CCB officer contacted one of the suspects over the phone during the investigation, the suspect allegedly continued to impersonate a CCB officer and said, “My boss will talk to you,” not realising he was speaking to an actual officer.
The police identified the victim as Mithul, 25, a resident of JP Nagar. On June 19, the suspects intercepted him while he was travelling in an autorickshaw. They claimed to be CCB officers, asked him to get down, and forced him into a car.
“They deliberately stopped near the police station so the victim would believe they were genuine CCB officers,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Imam Khasim Raja told indianexpress.com.
Two of them got out of the vehicle, entered the JP Nagar police station on the pretext of making a general enquiry and returned a few minutes later.
According to the police, the incident took place in June, but the investigation was transferred to the CCB on Sunday after investigators linked it to a case with a similar modus operandi.
The suspects then allegedly assaulted Mithul and threatened to book him in a Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act case unless he paid Rs 5 lakh. They freed him only after he assured the suspects that he would arrange the money, the police said.
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Mithul later approached the police, who began investigating the case. Investigators analysed CCTV footage and gathered technical evidence to trace the suspects.
Dispute over a woman
According to the investigators, the accused learnt about the gym trainer through one of their common friends. The police suspect the acquaintance, who is absconding, had a dispute with Mithul over a woman and tipped off the gang about him.
Two days after the alleged kidnapping of Mithul, the same gang was suspected to have attempted to target another person in Rajanukunte using a similar modus operandi. However, the intended victim dialled the police emergency helpline, 112, prompting the accused to flee before they could carry out the crime.
“It was during the investigation of the Rajanukunte incident that we realised this was not an isolated case and that the same group was involved in multiple offences,” the DCP added.
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The investigation of the case, registered at the Shankarpura police station on charges including impersonation of a public servant, extortion, and criminal intimidation, was thus transferred to the CCB on Sunday.
The police identified the arrested men as Tirumala V, 28, of Yelahanka New Town; Shanth Kumar, 44, of Vidyaranyapura; Prem Sai, 30, of Yelahanka; Ranjeeth Rao, 31, of RT Nagar; and Namith alias Abhi, 29, of RT Nagar. They have multiple other cases registered against them, including for murder and attempt to murder.
All five accused have been remanded to judicial custody, while efforts are on to trace the wanted suspect who the police believe helped identify the victim.
