Fake cops loot car on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway

Babu Swami, the driver who was hand in glove with the robbers. Pics/Hanif Patel

A group of nearly half a dozen ‘fake cops' - claiming to be associated with the anti-narcotics cell (ANC) of Palghar police - intercepted a car carrying Rs 5.15 crore and looted it near Virar along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway. The complainant Shrawan Thakor, 24, who was travelling in the car that belonged to a Mumbai-based courier company, was also kidnapped while the group took away the vehicle and his cell phones. The police said the car driver was hand in glove with the robbers.

After Thakor was released somewhere along the highway, he approached the Mandvi police station where an FIR was registered under Sections 420 (cheating) and 170 (impersonating a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code. Considering the sensitivity of the case, senior officers transferred it to the crime branch for further investigation.

Within three days, crime branch sleuths of the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police arrested four people including Thakor's driver Babu Swami. Officers from MBVV police, however, are tight-lipped about the case as they are yet to recover the loot.

Shrawan Thakor, complainant

In his complaint to the police, Thakor said he works for a parcel company run by Rajbhai Thakkar. "On March 17, I went to Adajan in Surat to get hawala money amounting to R5.15 crore along with Swami and Akshay Thakor, as per the instructions of Rajbhai. While returning to Mumbai via the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway, Swami abruptly stopped the vehicle just before Virar. He then took a water bottle and left the vehicle," he told the police.

According to his complaint, a car stopped beside their vehicle soon after and a few men got out and approached them. "One of them came up to me and flashed an identity card saying he is a police officer attached to the ANC of Palghar police. They demanded to check our car claiming that they suspected we were carrying gold, drugs and cash."

Thakor said he assured the men that they were carrying a small amount of cash but no gold or drugs and allowed them to search the car as they claimed to be police officers. "They then took me to their car, drove me around and later dropped me near an under-construction bridge around 8.30 pm before driving off," he added.

Thakor had to take a lift from a truck driver who dropped him at the location where the cash-laden car had been intercepted. However, the vehicle was missing so he approached the Mandvi police and registered an FIR. A senior crime branch officer told mid-day that four people have been arrested and more arrests are likely to be made soon. "We are yet to recover the cash and arrest the other accused who are absconding," he said.

Another officer said, "The driver of the victim was hand in glove with the other accused who impersonated police officers in plain clothes. We will decide on the further course of action after interrogating those arrested to build a watertight case. A few sections of dacoity and kidnapping are likely to be added to the existing FIR." However, he refused to share more details of the case and didn't reveal the names of those arrested, other than the driver Swami. On Wednesday, the four were produced before the Vasai court and sent to police remand for further investigation.

Rs 15cr
Amount that was looted