Five pose as cops, rob lawyer of Rs 5L after kidnapping him

Mumbai: An Arts graduate and his four aides were arrested for posing as police officers, bundling a lawyer into their car at Khar and threatening to take him to the Mumbai crime branch office for interrogation. They took away Rs 5 lakh in cash that he was carrying and threw him off their vehicle midway at Santa Cruz (West) after claiming that they have to pick two to three people. The 37-year-old lawyer filed the case soon after the incident that occurred between 7 am and 8 am on Sept 8. Khar police said they will add BNS section for organised crime and kidnapping apart from the cheating and impersonation sections.With the help of technical assistance, criminal data record and closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage, the police managed to locate college dropout Sandesh Maladkar (51) who led them to arts graduate Praful More (46) and their aides Vikas Surve (39), Chetan Gowda (34) and Darshan Yagnik (43). Police managed to recover Rs3.3 lakh of the total value of the stolen property. DCP (Zone IX) Raj Tilak Roshan supervised the investigation team comprising Khar police senior inspector Sanjeev Dhumal, inspector Vaibhav Katkar, assistant inspector Datta Kokane, sub-inspector Sandip Gawli and staff. They tracked the accused after scanning through 45 CCTV cameras. The team also located the vehicle that was used by the gang in the crime.In the complaint, the lawyer from Bandra (West) said: "My brothers ran a travel agency and money transfer services. I assisted them sometimes, including depositing money into the firm's bank account for money transfer. On the night of Sept 7, my brother gave me Rs 5.7 lakh to be deposited into the firm's bank account. On Sept 8 at 7am, I deposited Rs 70,000 in one of the bank accounts in Khar (West). I was then preparing to go to another bank at 7.30am to deposit the remaining Rs 5 lakh. Two men accosted me outside the ATM at Khar and claimed to be crime branch officers. They insisted me accompany them to the crime branch office. They refused to discuss anything further on the spot."After taking the complainant in their car, the two men searched his bag and found the money. "The lawyer explained that it was for money transfer services. But they threatened to register a case against him. A little later, they claimed they had to make several arrests and were going to be busy. They asked him to get out of the vehicle at Santacruz and left with his money," said a Khar police officer.The lawyer later realised that he had been duped and lodged a police complaint. During the probe, the police found out that Maladkar and More formed the gang after they met in Dahisar police custody in a separate offence they had committed. "Maladkar has at least eight cases of theft, robbery, kidnap, criminal intimidation, cheating, and impersonation that is registered since 2016 to 2022 at police stations in Bhoiwada, Malada, Dahisar, Navghar and in Navi Mumbai at Khandeshwar, Rabale, CBD Belapur and in Thane at Manpada. Meanwhile, More was booked at police stations in Mira Road and Dahisar," said the police. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Valentine's day wishes, messages and quotes !