BAHRAICH, Oct. 3 -- Hardi police have arrested four individuals, including two former policemen, accused of impersonating law enforcement officers. The group allegedly used a vehicle fitted with a red-blue beacon to extort money by threatening victims with arrest and fake encounters. Authorities recovered 7.795 kg of ganja, an illegal .315-bore country-made pistol, two live cartridges, a Renault Triber fitted with a red-blue beacon, cash, mobile phones, a police sub-inspector's uniform and two fake licence plates. According to superintendent of police (SP) Vishwajeet Srivastava, the vehicle in which the accused travelled was allegedly driven by a man dressed as a sub-inspector, who was accompanied by an associate. They had reportedly forcibly picked up two individuals from Raji Crossing and were transporting them toward Mahsi. The two other occupants told police they had been kidnapped at gunpoint from Raji Crossing and threatened with imprisonment, a staged encounter and false narcotics charges unless they paid a ransom. Police identified the uniformed suspects as Samar Bahadur Singh, a former Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel who joined the 32nd Battalion, Lucknow, in 1997 and was compulsorily retired in 2019, and Shriprakash Dwivedi (alias Prakash Dubey), a dismissed constable from the 2006 UP Police recruitment batch. Investigators stated that the duo utilized their knowledge of police procedures, the uniform, and the beacon-fitted vehicle to pose as serving officers and target locals. The other two arrested individuals, Awadhesh Awasthi and Virendra (alias Chhotu), admitted to selling small packets of ganja from their shops....