Shettihalli Vidyaranyapura 2. He gave her money several times to meet family emergencies and only refused after parting with `6L Bangalore City Police 3. At Rani’s home, two ‘cops’ threatened him with morphed pictures and fake FIR and took Rs 7.5L over months Sheeba Karnataka 4. ‘Cops’ then told him Rani was killed and he was a suspect; Das kept paying 5. Nandini Layout police had him call the men to trap them, Rs 73L was lost already 58-year-old paid the money over two years; mother-daughter duo, two accomplices heldNandini Layout resident Krishna Das, 58, had met Baby Rani, 39, at his tenant’s house inover two years ago. In the course of time, he got to know theresident well. Rani then started asking him for monetary help for meeting family emergencies. She knew the Kerala-based caterer was well off. Over two years, with an elaborate trap and two male accomplices, she managed to fleece Rs 73 lakh from him before Das sought help from Nandini Layout police station.His troubles started when Rani asked him for Rs 30,000 to pay her son’s college fees and Das readily agreed. Then she took another Rs 2.75 lakh for her husband’s treatment. Then, it was a beauty parlour she wanted to open, for which Das gave her Rs 3 lakh. When she asked him for another three lakh, he refused. And that’s when they laid a trap for him.“Rani had called him to her house in Kodigehalli saying that the money would be returned. When he went there, he was shocked to see his morphed pictures in a compromising position with her. While he was at her house, two men barged into the house claiming to be police attached to Kodigehalli police station’s crime section. They threatened to book him for being part of a prostitution racket. The men showed him fake police documents. The accused had downloaded the logo of theand had created fake FIR. Falling for this, the victim paid them Rs 2.5 lakh to ensure that no case was registered against him,” said an investigating officer.After his first encounter with the two ‘policemen’, Das got momentary peace. But soon after, they called him to demand Rs 5 lakh, threatening to revive the case. He paid up.“In July, the two men called him to say that Rani has been murdered and Das was a suspect, with the family mulling over filing a complaint. The accused managed to extort Rs 17 lakh from him with the promise of keeping his name out the FIR copy. In September, they called again to say the ‘murder case’ was to be reopened and he needed to pay Rs 20 lakh to keep things quiet. The victim pledged his property and paid up. Then Rani’s daughter Preethi aliasNiveditha, 23, threatened to approach theState Commission for Women and took another Rs 20 lakh from him in October,” the officer said.In November, the men called him again to say the trial has begun for the murder case and Rs 65 lakh was needed to get the judge to close the case. Das, by then, had no money left and finally approached the police. The police made him call the men, asking them to come and collect the money. The two men, Patel Babu, 27, and his brother Prasad alias Murthy, 25, residents of Thindlu Cross, came along with Rani and Preethi in two cars and were caught red-handed. Police arrested all four and have remanded them to judicial custody.“The victim is extremely foolish for getting conned for almost two years. The accused claims to have purchased two cars, and are constructing a building with Das’s money. Rani has claimed that she had also purchased gold jewellery with the money,” the officer added.The Nandini Layout police has registered a case and claims to have recovered Rs 11.17 lakh in cash, 60 grams of gold jewellery, three mobile phones, two cars, and fake FIR copies from the accused.

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