Nine held for assaulting, robbing businessman

Nine youths, who had allegedly beaten up a 35-year-old businessman and robbed him of valuables and cash worth Rs2.5 lakh, were arrested on charges of dacoity by the Kasarwadavli police on Wednesday.

Nine youths, who had allegedly beaten up a 35-year-old businessman and robbed him of valuables and cash worth Rs2.5 lakh, were arrested on charges of dacoity by the Kasarwadavli police on Wednesday.

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The accused have been identified as Pawan Bhoir, Jaideep Manera, Prem Shelke, Suraj Bhoir, Vinayak Dhaki, Dinanth Manera, Mashaal Shinge, Rohit Parab and Vivek Shinge.

All accused are aged between 20 and 25 years and are unemployed. Mashaal is the only accused who has a criminal record. One accused, who is yet to be identified, is absconding.

On April 14, around 11.00pm, Sharath Choudhary was returning to his residence in Thane’s Rutu Park from Mulund. At Wagh Bil, a Toyota Innova overtook his car and suddenly halted. The accused, reportedly under the influence of alcohol, alighted from the Innova and dragged Choudhary out of his car. They allegedly beat him up and took away his laptop, gold chain, bracelet and Rs1.5 lakh in cash.

Senior police inspector Pramod Khade from the Kasarwadavli police station said, “All the accused had been to a birthday party and they got drunk there. Later, all of them went for a drive in Vivek Shinge’s Innova. They were driving rashly and got into a spat with Choudhary. The accused then beat up Choudhary.”

Khade added that the accused reportedly looted Choudhary so that they could splurge on alcohol and other entertainment.

Following an extensive investigation, the police, on Wednesday caught the accused from Wadavli village, Bhiwandi and Wagh Bil. They also recovered the laptop, bracelet and Rs25,000 in cash from the accused.

Deputy commissioner of police (Zone V) Ashok Morale said, “We had formed three teams to catch the accused. One team was tracing the vehicle. Another team, from the cyber cell, was tracing the laptop. The third team was tracing the accused, as we knew some of them were local residents. We were able to first track down the Innova which led us to the accused.”

The accused were produced in court and have been remanded in police custody till April 22.