Mumbai Crime: Trader dealing with masks and sanitisers robbed of Rs 25 lakh by ‘cops’, 9 held

Photo for representational purpose

Nine people were arrested for robbing a masks and sanitiser trader of Rs 25 lakh on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad national highway in Vasai last month.

The accused included two friends of the Jaipur-based trader, stated a report in The Times of India.

The victim, Harihant Pabuwal (27), came to Mumbai last month for business and stayed in a 5-star hotel in Andheri. He was in touch with his friends Parth Jani (26) and Rabani Parel (28) from Thane. On February 26, Pabuwal was heading back to Jaipur in his car when he was intercepted on the highway in Vasai.

Six masked men threatened him and took away Rs 25 lakh cash from him. The victim registered a case of dacoity with Valiv police. In his complaint, Pabuwal stated that some of the men posed as cops.

Crime branch revealed that the dacoity was planned by Pabuwal's friends Jani and Parel, who were in debt. The two had roped in two of their friends - Girish Patel (27) and Abdul Sayyed (35) from Ajmer in Rajasthan. The friends, all traders, had suffered losses in their businesses, while Pabuwal was the only one doing well by selling masks and sanitisers.

Girish and Sayyed then roped in five of their friends identified as Imran Shaikh (38), Smitesh Gavas (37), Suresh Dalvi (33), Santosh More (44) and Vinay Singh (41).

Investigation revealed that information about Pabuwal's movements and business deals were shared by one Manohar Patel who was doing business transactions with the victim. He was arrested too.

The nine men had reached the highway at Vasai and intercepted Pabuwal's car. While Jani, Parel and Manohar, who were personally known to Pabuwal stayed at a distance, the other six men robbed the trader. Pabuwal was beaten up and later allowed to go after threatening of not filing police complaint. All nine have been booked for dacoity and remanded to police custody by the Vasai court.