Posing as I-T officials, they tried to extort a Mumbai businessman. A silly mistake gave them away

On a warm July afternoon, Rajkumar Kandaswami, a 50-year-old businessman from Saki Naka, Andheri East, was at home after returning from his office. His mobile rang and it was a colleague informing him that his office had been raided by the Income Tax (I-T) department. Kandaswami rushed to the office and found nine individuals inside – six men and three women.

The raiding party informed him that he was being accused of tax evasion and other financial crimes, and demanded over Rs 1 crore to settle the matter. Kandaswami, who assured them that his books were clean, refused to pay. The group then left, leaving Kandaswami to discover the following day that no such raid had taken place. He filed a police complaint, only to uncover that the nine imposters were part of a scheme hatched by his disgruntled ex-employee, Santosh Kapatkar.

Kapatkar had a history of causing trouble at work and had threatened to ruin Kandaswami after he was fired in June. Kapatkar enlisted the help of several associates, including an ex-constable from the I-T department, to impersonate I-T officials and execute the fake raid. The scheme came to light during the investigation, revealing that the extortionists had been misled by Kapatkar's actions.