West Bengal gold trader robbed in Saran by five men posing as cops

The suspected cop robbed him on the pretext of frisking his luxury car on the suspicion of liquor smuggling

Five armed men posing as cops intercepted a West Bengal gold trader on the National Highway 722 at Garkha police station area, around 12.30 am on Monday and robbed ₹20 lakh cash from him, officials said.

Image for representation. (File photo)

According to the victim Deepak Das, the suspected cop robbed him on the pretext of frisking his luxury car on the suspicion of liquor smuggling. Das told HT that he and his driver were returning to Kolkata via Muzaffarpur after collecting cash from small gold shop keepers.

“When we reached near Phurshatpur weighing scale, around 12.30 am, five persons including two men in police uniform stopped the car. Accusing me of peddling IMFL, a man came and asked me to come out. When I came out, another man introduced himself as a senior cop and asked me to keep my bag full of cash aside as they wanted to frisk my car, they said they have inputs that we are liquor smugglers. As soon as I took out the cash, they snatched it with my mobile phone and car’s key. They ordered us to sit in the car, saying senior cops will reach shortly to interrogate us,” said Das, adding that as he pleaded innocence, they returned his bag, saying nothing objectionable was found in it.

After 30 minutes, Das got down from the car and started searching them but the miscreants sped away. Das somehow reach Garkha police station and informed the incident after which the police swung into action and a search operation was launched after cordoning off the entire area. Police said Das was a supplier of gold and silver ornaments to the jewellery shops and wholesalers in Saran.

“We have formed four teams to crack the case. Teams are scanning the CCTV footage. We are also trying to get the registration number of the vehicle. Traders from whom the collection was made are also being questioned. We will soon work out the case and recover the money,” said Saran SP Santosh Kumar.

Earlier in 2017, armed criminals shot dead businessman Avatar Singh (50) of Taran Taran in Punjab and looted gold jewellery worth around ₹40 lakh from him at Bhagwan Bazaar area in Chhapra town of Saran. Avatar’s relative Sarvajeet Singh (52) was also shot at several times.