Varanasi, April 14 : The Lanka police in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi has arrested nine people of a gang of 'fake journalists', a police officer said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Kashi zone, Pramod Kumar, said that an Innova car, camera, electronic equipment, mobile, SIM card and six hundred rupees have been recovered from them.

According to the DCP, during questioning, the accused confessed that they would go out on the highway in the night and would stop vehicles on the highway and threaten their drivers with a sting operation.

One would pose as the chief editor, someone a reporter and another a cameraman.

Apart from this, they used to extort money from illegal and overloaded vehicles by threatening to seize them.

If they met policemen on the way, they would threaten them by recording their video and pretending to be journalists.

The arrested gang members include Mridul Kumar Tiwari, Lal Babu Sonkar, Akash Kumar Gautam, Gaurav Kumar Bharti, Prakash Verma, Sawan Kumar, Anil Kashyap, Dilip Kumar and Jitendra Sonkar.

Police said that Mridul Kumar Tiwari is the leader and he posed as chief editor. Lal Babu Sonkar became assistant cameraman, Akash Kumar Gautam, Jitendra Sonkar and Sawan Kumar alias Nayak became reporters. Gaurav Kumar Bharti was the driver.

Dilip Kumar, Anil Kashyap and Prakash Verma were involved in this business of extortion by posing as cameramen.

Police have recovered the alleged channel's reporting mic, stand, three hand-talks, mobile selfie stick, 360 degree camera, data cable, 11 mobile phones, 11 SIM cards, three data cables, Innova car and Rs 600 as recovery money from them.

The DCP added that every day the police were receiving complaints of extortion from vehicles by gangs of fake journalists travelling in vehicles.

Following this, top officials formed a police team, the DCP said

During investigation, the police got the number of the gang's car. The gang members met under the Maldahiya bridge near Dafi bypass. They were caught near Harsevanand Public School under Maldahiya bridge.

/IANS