2 friends placed Rs 100 bet to rob bizman, held

Their habit of committing a crime to outdo each other in small bets landed two friends in the lockup.

Their habit of committing a crime to outdo each other in small bets landed two friends in the lockup.

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On April 17, the Shahu Nagar police arrested Ajit Kumar Singh (27), a manager with a five-star hotel, and Neeraj Yadav (25), an electronic engineer, for allegedly siphoning off Rs 20,000 from a businessman’s account.

The duo allegedly confessed that they did not commit the crime because of any financial problem, but for a Rs 100 bet. Police records state that on April 2, S. Harijan, a Wadala-based businessman stopped at an ATM in Dharavi. He swipped his card in the machine.

“That’s when Singh entered and told him to use the other machine,” said an official, requesting anonymity.

Singh took over the machine, while Harijan moved to another one and forgot to terminate his transaction.

Police said while Harijan was doing a new transaction on the other machine, Singh managed to notice his personal identification number and withdrew Rs 20,000 from Harijan’s account and also some money from his own account.

“We checked the closed-circuit television camera footage of the accused at the ATM and through his records of the transaction from his own account, found his residential address in Powai,” said Police Sub-Inspector V.U. Seergiri.

The police arrested Harijan and later his friend after he allegedly confessed.

The accused have been charged with misappropriation of funds and theft.