Four arrested for robbing 23-year-old of his cell phone, forcing him to reveal his UPI PIN

Six days after a 23-year-old man from Jalgaon’s Bhusawal, who had come to Mumbai for a job interview, was allegedly forced to give his cell phone and share his UPI wallet PIN with a gang, police have arrested four drug addicts

Six days after a 23-year-old man from Jalgaon’s Bhusawal, who had come to Mumbai for a job interview, was allegedly forced to give his cell phone and share his UPI wallet PIN with a gang, police have arrested four drug addicts.

Swapnil Tiwari, one of the four accused HT Photo

Around 10 am on September 8, Asif Khatik was waiting on LBS Road in Bhandup to meet his relative, who works as a domestic help in nearby Runwal Greens society. Four men surrounded him and dragged him into an empty ground next to the complex where they assaulted him and took his wallet and cell phone.

“One of them unlocked his cell phone and found UPI app installed on it. The accused then bashed him up further and forced him to reveal the PIN,” police sub-inspector Abhijeet Tekawade of Bhandup police station said.

Khatik told the police that the accused first asked him to transfer money to them on the spot, but he refused. “They forced me to share my PIN and then left me at the spot, saying that they had got what they had come for.” He filed a complaint and an FIR was registered.

A camera mounted over a restaurant near the spot had captured one of the four fleeing the scene. During investigation, it was found that the suspect was part of a group of drug addicts who frequently gathered at Sonapur Pipeline. On September 9, the police arrested Saddam Hussain Sheikh, 30, in Sonapur.

Following his interrogation, two of his accomplices - Irfan Khan, 26, and Swapnil Tiwari, 22, - were arrested near Chand Shah Wali Dargah in Powai the same day, and the fourth one, Shah Rukh Sheikh, 29, was nabbed on Monday.

“Khatik’s phone was recovered from Irfan. After robbing him, the four went to a wine shop in Bhandup and bought four cans of soft drinks using his UPI wallet. They then transferred the remaining amount – around ₹4,000 – to the wine shop owner’s account and took the cash from him,” Tekawade said. The police have issued a notice to the wine shop owner to retrieve the money.

Senior police inspector Nitin Unhavane said it was a rare case where the accused had exposed themselves by sticking around longer than necessary when they could have just fled with the cell phone.

Meanwhile, the police have found that the four are repeat offenders, with a history of theft and robbery.