CHENNAI: Five people who posed as police and Income Tax officials and gained entry into a house in Ramapuram and robbed the residents at knifepoint were arrested by the police.

The incident happened on Tuesday (November 10) in Kothagiri Nagar. When Santhana Lakshmi and her daughter, Keerthana, an IT worker, returned home after their evening walk, a group of people came to the house. One of them was wearing a police uniform. They claimed to be a joint team of police and Income Tax personnel and demanded gold, cash, and also money that they got after selling a land recently.

Not believing them, Santhana Lakshmi called her sister Chandrakala, who lived nearby. Chandrakala rushed there with her son Prakash and asked the suspects to produce their identity cards. Soon, another suspect who was waiting outside entered the home and the gang threatened the family at knifepoint, tied them up, and escaped with their mobile phones.

Neighbours rushed to the house after hearing Keerthana's screams and alerted the police. The Ramapuram police registered a case and examined CCTV footage, and found that the gang had used a fake registration number on the car.

After investigations, the police arrested Vijayakumar (32), Raja (26), Yashwanth (21), Kannan (19), and Arun Raj (30).

Vijayakumar is a driver, Raja a daily-wage worker, and Yashwanth worked for a private firm. Arun Raj, Raja and Vijayakumar have previous criminal cases. Search is on for another suspect.