‘I-T officers’ arrested for duping Navi Mumbai bizman of 2.72L

THANE: A dismissed police constable and his three friends, who posed as income tax officers to dupe a Navi Mumbai businessman of Rs 2.72 lakh in a bogus raid, were arrested by the Thane police in less than 24 hours after
the crime.
Praful Bhingardive, a former cop, along with his accomplices Bhupendra Koshti, Milesh Satam and Santosh Bhosale, hatched the plan and headed towards a godown in Gotheghar area.
The victim, Mangaldas Bhanushali, was sitting in his office when the accused drove down in a car and flashed their identity cards as income tax officers at around 11.30am on Tuesday.
“The accused told Bhanushali that they had learnt that he was evading levy and hence have come to investigate the issue. They snatched his mobile phone and insisted on searching the godown,” said Sachin Patil, deputy commissioner of police (zone-1).
Upon carrying out the search, the accused could not find anything and asked Bhanushali to take them to his apartment in Koparkhairne for house search.
“The four carried out house search very professionally and ‘seized’ gold jewellery and cash collectively worth Rs 2.72 lakh,” said K D Katkar, senior police inspector of Shil-Daighar police station.
After seizing the booty, the four demanded Rs 1 lakh as bribe and told Bhanushali that by the time they called back, he should have arranged for the sum. Bhanushali, however, had registered a case with the Daighar police and waited for the call from the accused.
The police laid a trap and arrested the accused late on Tuesday night. “We are thoroughly interrogating and trying to ascertain their role in similar cases,” said Patil.
The accused were produced in the magistrate court and have been remanded to police custody for a week.