A young woman posing as the daughter of the Sultan of Dubai was arrested in Punjab after she tried to extort large sums of cash from families of the 17 Indians currently on death row in Sharjah for the murder of a Pakistani national.
The police said Sarabjeet Kaur played on the unfortunate families’ sentiments promising the immediate release and repatriation of the prisoners for a price. She established telephonic contact with the families through two male accomplices, one posing as “the Sultan’s son-in-law” and the other her assistant.
The trio first called Mr Jaspreet Singh of Khukrana village whose younger brother Kuldeep is one of the 17 incarcerated in the UAE. “One of the accomplices, who identified himself as the son-in-law, told Jaspreet his wife — the Sultan’s own daughter — was currently in India and could arrange the man’s release from the jail for Rs 14 lakhs in cash,” a police official said.
The imposters were still in the process of setting up lucrative deals with many of the families when the matter was brought to the attention of Avtar Singh Mullanpuri, a local politician who has been campaigning for the release of the prisoners alongside former Union minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia.
The police laid a trap after Mr Mullanpuri, pretending to be the father of one of the prisoners, struck a deal for Rs 6 lakhs with the callers.
Constables fanned out across Zira (Ferozepur) bus stand – the mutually agreed drop off location — awaiting the “Sultan’s daughter” to make an appearance. Many frantic phone calls later, the “princess” appeared suitably attired in a black hijab with only her eyes visible. And even though she insisted on conversing in brief snatches of bad Urdu, her thick Punjabi accent completely gave her away as a local.