New Delhi: At 10 am on 11 February, three armed men, carrying what looked like government files, arrived in a blue Bolero car and rang the doorbell of a bungalow in southeast Delhi’s New Friends Colony.
“We are from the Enforcement Directorate. We will search the house, and we will film it,” one of them told Usha Sabharwal, the owner of the house.
Her house help Rekha Devi (45), who is originally from Chamoli in Uttarakhand, stood next to the gate, watching.
One of the three men started recording, another walked into their bedrooms, and the third one, in police uniform, took away the mobile phones of Usha, her husband RC Sabharwal (both in their mid-80s), and their son Puneet Sabharwal (56), who runs a construction business.
Police said he switched the phones off.
“The three told the Sabharwals they had a search warrant, ‘but they wouldn’t show’. They refused to show any search warrant, authorisation letter, or identity proof. The couple slowly began to take out cash, jewellery, and watches. They were told they cannot contact anybody, and that photos of the seizure will be taken, since it’s a protocol,” police told ThePrint.
It looked like a raid conducted by the Enforcement Directorate. But, it wasn’t.
Rekha Devi (40), the woman who had worked at the bungalow for the last three years, planned the entire fake operation and was watching it unfold, according to police.
The ED raid that wasn’t
Rekha had been doing all the work for the Sabharwals, and earned their trust. She would often discuss with her sister-in-law Pooja Rajput, who works as a caretaker for senior citizens, that she is only with the elderly couple in the house after 10 am.
According to police, Pooja then hatched a conspiracy to stage the fake ED raid on the Sabharwals.
“Five-six months ago, Pooja hatched a conspiracy to conduct a fake raid to get cash. Pooja’s husband, Prakash, a constable in the ITBP, began planning how they would conduct the fake raid.
“Rekha began noticing where the money was being kept. Now, she knew who came inside the house, and the kind of conversations going on. Rekha was alert,” said an officer who investigated the matter.
Now, along with Rekha and Prakash, Pooja also asked her son Manish and her brother-in-law, Updesh Singh Thapa, to join the group. By now, Rekha knew that nobody was home after 10 am.
On February 11, at 10 am, it all worked as per plan. “The three men moved quickly inside the house. They acted like officials. They pretended to follow the procedure because they had experience, if not an ED raid, they knew how a liquor or illicit money raid is, and they had seen films like Special 26, for inspiration,” said the officer.
However, Puneet Sabharwal said, “In 30 seconds, I understood it was a scam.”
“While they stood around the table where cash worth Rs 10 lakh was kept, Usha managed to slip outside the drawing room to a bathroom, where, using a spare phone, she managed to call her grandson, Kartik Sabharwal. She told him there were ED officials at home, who were scanning the house, and were planning to take the money,” DCP (south east) Hemant Tiwari said.
What the three men did not know was that Kartik was a lawyer, representing the ED.
“He immediately alerted us that it was not a real ED team, since they did not produce any documentation. Kartik spoke to them (the impersonators) on call and told them that he would come home to speak to them. The three men panicked. They fled the house quickly with whatever they could collect — jewellery and cash worth Rs 3 lakh. They fled in the blue Bolero car,” the DCP said.
Even as the drama was underway at home, Rekha Devi stood calm, police said. She did not say anything.
Police case
The family went to the New Friends Colony police station on 13 February and filed a complaint.
A case was registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 319(2) (cheating by personation), 318(4) (cheating), 329(4) (criminal trespass), 127 (wrongful confinement), among others.
R.S. Sabharwal said in the police FIR that the impersonators refused to show any search warrant, authorisation letter, or identity proof. He said they intimidated the family, snatched their mobile phones, switched them off, “thereby wrongfully restraining them from making any calls or seeking help”.
Further, Sabharwal stated the accused asked him to present all his money and valuables before them. He was Scared and placed a bag containing approximately Rs 10–12 lakh (legitimate business income) on the dining table, he said in the FIR.
The accused clicked photographs and threatened the victim with arrest by ED officials, police said.
Police began searching for the vehicle using CCTV cameras. More than 300 CCTV cameras were scanned to trace the vehicle, ADCP (southeast) Aishwarya Sharma said. Finally, the blue Bolero was traced near Sector 4, in Vaishali, Ghaziabad.
“We began interrogating all suspects, including Rekha Devi, and we found call detail matching records. Puneet Sabherwal, 56, their son, who runs a construction business, was suspicious that Rekha could have insider information about the incident,” said the ADCP.
Puneet told ThePrint, “In the last five to six months, I noticed she was behaving differently. She would keep saying she’ll leave the house soon. A few weeks ago, I got a few CCTVs installed inside the house, and she kept asking why they were needed. I told her safety is a big concern, since my parents are home during the day.”
After the incident, Puneet informed the police that they suspect Rekha’s role, but did not let her know. “Even after the incident, she kept working, making it seem normal. She, however, was very alert. And on Wednesday, she went missing.”
“Rekha was like a daughter to my parents. She would take care of them and would reside in the servant quarters,” Puneet said.
Police analysed Rekha’s call records. When police tracked the car to its owner, the call detail records revealed that Rekha was in contact with them.
Police reached Rekha’s sister-in-law, Pooja, who lived in Vaishali. When Rekha’s son was questioned, he old police that his parents were discussing the plan for several nights. However, Rekha and her husband had fled by then. Police managed to track Rekha and Pooja down.
They have been arrested and sent to judicial custody.
A search of Pooja’s residence in Sector-3 led to the recovery of an Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) deputy commandant’s uniform, a fake ID card, a wireless set box, seven watches allegedly stolen from the Sabherwals over time, jewellery, and a pistol with a licence that had expired in 2019.
During interrogation, Rekha and Pooja allegedly confessed to the crime. Investigators identified the three absconding men as a serving ITBP constable, Prakash Kumar, a retired Army subedar, Updesh Singh, and another relative, Manish.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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