Cops: Armourer lost ₹50L in gambling, decided to robbed people

The policeman was identified as Suraj Dhokre, 37. According to Padgha police officials, Dhokre had taken loans worth ₹40-50 lakh from different banks and was not able to repay the amount.

Thane: An armourer with the Mumbai police, who was booked for shooting and injuring two cousins in Bhiwandi, was facing a financial crisis after he lost around ₹50 lakh money in online gaming, investigations revealed. To repay his debt, he targeted people in remote areas of Bhiwandi and robbed them.

HT Image

The policeman was identified as Suraj Dhokre, 37. According to Padgha police officials, Dhokre had taken loans worth ₹40-50 lakh from different banks and was not able to repay the amount. To earn some easy money, he decided to rob people at remote locations in the nighttime, said an officer.

The Investigation Officer said, “Dhokre was facing a financial crisis for the past few months. For several reasons, including enjoyment, he had lost a lot of money in the gaming app. But to repay it, he couldn’t find any solution to earn easy money, so he started looting people in remote places. We are also checking whether he was involved in other illegal activities.”

On Friday, an unknown masked man, later identified as Suraj Dhokre, chased two youths on a red CBZ bike and fired at them in Bhiwandi. The injured in the shootout, Feroze Rafiq Shaikh, 27, and Azim Aslam Syed, 30, were admitted to Sion Hospital for treatment. In this case, the Thane Rural Padgha police team started an investigation and filed a case under IPC 307 of the Indian Penal Code,