Impersonator arrested for extortion bid

CHENNAI: A 31-year-old share market advisor was nabbed for impersonating as a CBI official and threatening a supervisor of an infotech company to give him Rs 10 lakh on Saturday.Impersonator P Guganathan (31) of Nehru Street, Choolaimedu had threatened supervisor Abdul Wahab (33) of Royal Avenue, Madhavaram to give him Rs 10 lakh, claiming that the infotech company he worked for had evaded tax.Wahab promptly lodged a complaint with the Madhavaram police claiming that he worked as a supervisor in an IT company located at Mahalingapuram and that he been receiving threatening calls on his mobile phone from someone who claimed he was a CBI official. The caller claimed he had documentary evidence to prove that the company had evaded tax and demanded protection money, the police said. To trap the caller, the Madhavaram police asked Wahab to inform him that he was ready to give the money at a pre-decided spot near the office of the CBI at Besant Nagar. The caller took the bait and arrived at the spot after which he was arrested.The man later confessed that he worked as a share market advisor, running the business from home, the police said. In 2001, Guganathan had recruited staff for the infotech company in which Abdul Wahab was working, so he thought he could extort money, the police said.Since Guganathan claimed to be a CBI official, the CBI too is investigating the case, the police said, adding that further investigation was currently on.