Mangaluru: The CCB of Mangaluru City police arrested Sam Peter alias Danny Tarakan alias Antony,64, on Monday night for allegedly posing as an officer and director of the National Crime Investigation Bureau (NCIB) to extort and cheat people. He was picked up from Kannur in Kerala.
He had been absconding for around three years after securing bail and failing to appear before the court during the trial.
On Aug 16, 2019, Mangaluru East police had raided a lodge at Pumpwell and arrested Peter and eight members of his gang. Police said Peter is a notorious fraudster and that an Interpol Red Corner Notice had been issued against him under the alias Rahul Peter since 2001. Around 17 cases involving cheating and fraud have been registered against Peter in various places, including Mangaluru East police station, Ullal, Konaje, Chikkaballapur, Bengaluru, Udupi City and Kushalnagar, as well as in Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. Police said 17 warrants had been issued against him in a case registered at Ullal police station. In the Mangaluru East police station case, warrants were issued 14 times, following which a proclamation was issued against him, the police commissioner said. After getting bail in Sept 2023, he went absconding again and never attended any court.
The investigation revealed that he had used the names Antony, Rahul Peter, Sam Peter, Rajesh Robinson, Ritu Richard, Roy Jacob, Robin Richardson, Robinson, Antony Francis, Sharoon Francis and currently, Danny Tarakan.
City police commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy CH said that Peter, also known as T Sam Peter alias Rahul Peter, had formed his own gang and posed as officials of national investigating agencies. Police said Peter used different names at different places to conceal his identity. Police said he allegedly followed a pattern of committing an offence in one place, moving to another location and changing his name. Appreciating the work of the CCB, the commissioner said, “He is a notorious criminal and has taken many names and is moving continuously.
The gang allegedly targeted people involved in financial disputes, bank fraud and tax evasion cases, convinced them that Peter was an authorised officer and collected money from them through fraud and extortion. He was subsequently granted bail by the court, but failed to appear during the trial and remained absconding for around three years. The arrested accused has been handed over to Mangaluru East police for further legal action. Officers and personnel of the Mangaluru City CCB unit were involved in tracing and arresting the accused.
His RCN was closed after his arrest earlier, but he continued his offences.