Contractor duped of old currency worth Rs 3 crore, 3 arrested, cop suspended

HT Correspondent

HT Correspondent

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htmetro@hindustantimes.com

An assistant police inspector from Santacruz police station has been suspended for his alleged role in duping a contractor of demonetised notes having a face value of Rs3 crore. Apart from the suspended officer, the role of two more people in duping the contractor under the pretext of exchanging them for new notes through a bank is being probed by Santacruz police.

Confirming that Sanjay Mali has been put under suspension, joint commissioner of police Deven Bharti said that a departmental enquiry has also been initiated against the police officer and appropriate action will be taken against him if he is found guilty in the enquiry.

Three people have been arrested in the case on Thursday and have been remanded in police custody on Friday. According to the Santacruz police, the arrested accused are identified as Raju Sawant, 35, Rahit Gorule, 40, and Mahesh Shetty,30.

While Sawant is a home guard, Gorule is unemployed and Shetty works in a canteen. The trio was produced before a magistrate’s court and has been remanded in police custody till November 21 for further probe.

As per the FIR registered by the complainant contractor, Sanjay Naik, he was introduced to the trio by his hotelier friend whose role is also being investigated by the police.

Two men apart from the trio also posed in front of Naik as employees of the private bank where the demonetised notes were offered to be exchanged. It is not clear if the two are really working for a private bank, police said.

An official attached to Santacruz police station said, “Naik was told that they will deposit the money into an account. They will then transfer it through RTGS into Naik’s account.”

According to the plan, Naik reached Santacruz railway station in his car around noon on Tuesday. The trio too arrived there. They took the money, which was in three bags and asked Naik to wait while they went to deposit the money.

They then disappeared into they busy market crowd on the way to the bank and Naik couldn’t find them. Naik said that he saw a police officer from Santacruz police station at the spot. The police suspect this police officer is involved in the crime and his role is being probed.

The officer said apart from the role of the police officer, they are also probing the role of two more people who posed as bank officials and it is yet to be ascertained, if they are working for the same private bank.

None of the accused appears to have a prior criminal record, but the police are checking if they have any past involvement. The police said they are in the process of recovering the duped amount.