E-Paper
Three cops from Pune arrested for looting ₹45 lakh from businessman
PUNE Three policemen from Pune’s Dattawadi police station were among four people arrested by Thane police for looting a businessman of ₹45 lakh cash while he was carrying hawala cash from Nashik to Mumbai
PUNE Three policemen from Pune’s Dattawadi police station were among four people arrested by Thane police for looting a businessman of ₹45 lakh cash while he was carrying hawala cash from Nashik to Mumbai.
The fourth arrest is of a hawala agent who was helping the complainant but also plotted the loot.
The three policemen have been identified as Ganesh Balasaheb Shinde (35), Ganesh Maruti Kamble (34) and Dilip Maruti Pilane (32), while the hawala agent was identified as Babubhai Rajaram Solanki (47).
Solanki lives in the jurisdiction where the three policemen are deployed - Dattawadi - and knows them very well, according to the police.
“We have them all in custody till March 17. We have already recovered ₹5 lakh cash from the agent. We found technical evidence that proved that they were at that location,” said senior police inspector MM Ballal of Narpoli police station of Thane police.
Solanki is a close family relative of the businessman complainant and knew of the movement from Nashik to Mumbai on March 8. The three policemen went to Bhiwandi on March 7, stopped the businessman’s car and took cash on March 8, and then returned to Pune, according to the police.
Furthermore, the police have also informed the income tax department of the hawala transport of ₹5 crore cash by the businessman.
