Mumbai constable held for cheating 5 of Rs85 lakh

Anantprasad Pandey allegedly posed as Special Protection Group chief and promised the victims jobs in public sector

A Mumbai police constable was arrested for cheating more than five Thane residents of Rs85.5 lakh.

The police are also looking for Pandey’s wife and son, who were also allegedly involved in the cheating. (GETTY IMAGES ISTOCK PHOTO)

Anantprasad Pandey, 51, head police constable with the Yellow gate police station, posed as Special Protection Group chief and promised the victims jobs in public sector.

The police are looking for the accused’s wife and son who too were allegedly involved in the cheating.

“A resident of Nallasopara, Pandey told the people that he had contacts in Mantralaya and he knew CBI officers in Delhi. Among the five he cheated, one was a sales manager who lodged a complaint against Pandey,” said Nasir Kulkarni, police inspector from Kasarwadavli police station.

From March 2016 to December 2017, Pandey gave false promises to the five. He took Rs88 lakh from the victims but later returned Rs2.5 lakh after they kept pestering him for jobs.

He fled the city after the case was registered. “We came to know that Pandey was to come to Nallasopara to meet his relative and we arrested him,” said Kulkarni.

Kulkarni said, “We check his record and found that he was not regular at work.”

A police officer from Yellow Gate police station said, “Pandey is posted at the police station but then he has not come to work for the past two months.”