Accused arrested after police tap their phones; police say the three young men turned to crime to fuel expensive lifestyle Three youths who robbed students from other states by calling them on the phone and pretending to be police officers were finally arrested after their mobiles were tapped. 
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Students of crime: Manjunath, Shrinivas and Niranjan allegedly studied how police officers speak by visiting police stations so that they could make convincing calls to their victims</td></tr></tbody></table> The accused were identified as degree students Manjunath (20), Shrinivas (20) and Niranjan (22). The police said they used mobile phones to make the extortion calls. The police said the three did it to fuel their desire to lead a lavish lifestyle, since their parents wouldn't allow them the money to have fun. The three first visited some police stations to study how police officers spoke and also to take a look at identity cards so that they could make fake ones. The police said they used to do this at night, when all were asleep. Then they chose their targets from students who had come to the city to study from other states and would get hold of their phone numbers. After the arrested accused had got hold of the numbers, they would begin calling their targets and say they were police personnel who wanted to check their homes for suspicious activity. They would go over to their homes and pretend to check for illegal activities taking place there. They would lock a victim's home from inside and bring out weapons and threaten the victims. At this point, the scared victims would give away their money and valuables. After they met with initial success, they grew bolder and started to operate on a larger scale. They targeted the Kumarswamy Layout area, where many North Indian students reside. The three planned to rob Priyesh Kumar of Uttar Pradesh. They got hold of his mobile number and called him at the midnight on February 12. When Priyesh opened the door, they entered the house and locked it from inside and woke up his friends. They said they were police and flashed their fake identity cards. They said they were there to get information that the students had brought brothel women over. The North Indian students were threatened with arrest by the accused. The confused students denied having girls inside the house, but the accused told them there were senior police officers waiting outside and if they wanted to escape arrest, they should give them money. Priyesh and his friends gave the accused around Rs 15,000. While leaving the house, the accused told the students they should not to tell anyone about what had transpired, especially no the police. This got Priyesh suspicious and in the morning he lodged a complaint with the Kumarswamy police station. The police started an investigation and got the mobile number of the accused and trapped them. Babu Naronha, police inspector of Kumarswamy Layout said, "Now, they have used our voices and dresses, later they may pretend they are top police officers. If we do not take action, this trend will definitely harm society. We caught all three and sent them to jail and we are investigating further."

Accused arrested after police tap their phones; police say the three young men turned to crime to fuel expensive lifestyle

Posing as cops, three students go on robbing spree

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Posing as cops, three students go on robbing spree

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