The Versova police have arrested a 45-year-old fake cop for allegedly extorting cigarette packets from paan-beedi shops. The accused, Kailash Janardhan Khamkar, 45, would sell them in other areas or smoke their contents himself. The accused had been arrested by the Ghatkopar police in April for the same offence in the MIDC area where he was found donning khaki and using a bike with the police logo on it.

The Versova police recovered 17 cigarette packets from him. According to the police officers, Khamkar was working at the airport as a loader but after he lost his job amid the lockdown, he started duping people by posing as a police officer. Also a chain smoker, his target of choice was paan-beedi shopkeepers across the city.