3 held for attack on Nira doctor

PUNE: The Pune rural police on Wednesday claimed to have solved a case in which a Nira-based doctor was assaulted and robbed of cash and gold ornaments, worth Rs 11.12 lakh. The incident had taken place at the doctor’s clinic in Nira, about 70 km from here, on January 28. Ornaments worth Rs 8.13 lakh have been recovered from three suspects involved in the attack.
The suspects have been identified as Ganesh Vithhal Raskar (25), Ajay Madhav Shinde (25) and Hemant Hanumant Bankar (28), all from Nira.Addressing a press conference, superintendent of police Pratap Dighavkar said, Raskar, a criminal on record, has eight cases, including those of murder, attempt to murder, extortion and rioting, registered against him. “We want to book him under the Maharashtra Control Organised Crime Act. We will send a proposal to the collector in this regard,” Dighavkar said.
Raskar and his accomplices had first decided to attack another doctor at his clinic in the town, but looking at the rush there at that time, they went to Niranjan Vijaykumar Shah’s clinic, around 11 pm.
“Raskar called Shah, who has his clinic and house in the same building, pretending that he had chest pain. An unsuspecting Shah, who was alone at that time, came down from his house and took Raskar inside his clinic. While he was examining Raskar, Bankar pulled down the clinic’s shutter from inside,” Dighavkar said.
Raskar then took out a sharp weapon and assaulted Shah on his thigh. Threatening to kill Shah, he demanded money from him and took Rs 20,000 from a drawer. The duo then forcibly took Shah to his house from where they robbed the gold ornaments. Later, they fled on a stolen motorcycle.
The incident had created panic in the town, with residents and doctors calling for a bandh the next day. “We received a tip-off that Raskar and Bankar would be arriving in Nira by train on February 3. We laid a trap and arrested them on the same day.
Shinde was arrested on Monday after it was discovered that the robbed ornaments were kept in his house. Part of the ornaments, worth Rs 8.13 lakh, have been recovered from Shinde’s house,” Dighavkar said.
After the incident, the suspects had travelled to Kalyan, Panvel, Vashi and Kolhapur. They were produced before the court and remanded to police custody till February 17. The case is registered at the Jejuri police station.