Five from Mumbai impersonate ACB officers, try to abduct tuition teacher, held

They tried to abduct a private tuition teacher, Alwyn Pervez, but failed after he raised an alarm.

Five people have been arrested for allegedly posing as Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officers and trying to abduct a tuition teacher and extort money from him.

The main accused, Rane is a resident of Thane and the other four live in Andheri. Rane runs a small-scale business and the other four are his partners. (HT photo)

While the main accused has been identified as Mayur Rane, 24, the other four are Manojkumar Prasad, 34, Mohit Verma, 27, Mithilesh Mukhiya, 28, and Suraj Pawar, 26. Rane is a resident of Thane and the other four live in Andheri. Rane runs a small-scale business and the other four are his partners.

Alwyn Pervez, 39, who they tried to kidnap, runs a coaching class at Naupada. Deputy commissioner of police, D Swamy said, “The teacher was in a relationship with a 32-year-old woman around five years ago but he abruptly ended it. The woman later got into a relationship with Rane, who along with the other accused, devised this plan to teach him a lesson.”

On April 28, they reached the coaching class in a SUV and called Pervez downstairs, saying that they were from the ACB.“When Pervez did not come down, they barged into the class, assaulted him and tried to abduct him. But when he raised an alarm, they fled. The incident was recorded by a CCTV camera and some of the accused were found by our network of informers and traced,” said Swamy.

The police added that the case is complicated, as they noted discrepancies in the complainant’s statements. Rane told the police that he was abducted in Thane rural area about a year ago, but he managed to escape. He said he planned to kidnap Pervez in the same way and threaten him. Police said they are verifying this kidnapping case too.