7 held for robbing wellness centre in Delhi by posing as Mumbai Police officers

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Seven people were arrested for allegedly posing as officers of Mumbai Police and robbing a wellness centre here after getting inspired by Bollywood flick 'Special 26', officials said on Sunday. The accused were arrested from Delhi, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, they said. The police said the incident took place Wednesday afternoon when four people, including a woman, entered the centre's office at Netaji Subash Place Complex here after posing as Mumbai Police officers.

On the pretext of conducting a raid, which went on five hours, they robbed Rs 5-7 lakh, police said. The victim was threatened at gunpoint and had to call his wife who then took out Rs 5 lakh that was collected by the female accused, police said Apart from cash, the accused also fled with a laptop, 10 phones and bank documents of the victim, police said. "We registered a case and started looking for the accused. Initial investigation revealed that the accused were accompanied by a group of people who stood guard outside the office.

"They kept roaming outside at the time but didn't enter. We started looking for them. Based on technical surveillance and local enquiry, one of them was identified and arrested," said Usha Rangnani, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest). The arrested accused, Prashant Kumar Patil (29), revealed that he and his six associates committed the crime. Based on his questioning, two women -- Jyoti (30) and Neha (22), were arrested from Rohini, she said.

Other two accused, Jahid Khan and Sanjay Manocha, were arrested from Mewat while two others, Faisal and Imran, were arrested from Madhya Pradesh, she added. "Seven out of eight accused involved were arrested and they revealed that they were inspired by the Bollywood movie 'Special 26'. "Faisal, Imran, Neha and Majid had entered the office while others stood guard. Prashant and Jahid knew the complainant so they stood outside," the DCP said.

The police said Prashant had a central government job but he was suspended after a case was registered against him by the Bhopal Crime Branch over allegations of sanctioning loans to fake companies. "Prashant was lodged in Bhopal Jail where he met co-accused Majid who was lodged there in a cheating case. They made the plan to rob the victim in Delhi. Neha is a computer expert and made the fake police IDs and documents, the DCP said. The police recovered part of the robbed cash, phones and the laptop along with fake Mumbai Police IDs.

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