Fake 'ED raid' on jeweller: Mumbai Police crack case in 24 hrs, nab 3
Darpan News Desk IANS, 24 Jan, 2023 11:37 AM
Mumbai, Jan 24 (IANS) In a major shocker, a gang of four persons, including a woman, impersonating Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers, "raided" and looted a Mumbai bullion dealer of gold and cash worth over Rs 2 crore, police said on Tuesday.
Moving swiftly into the investigations, the LT Marg Police have arrested three of the accused - Mumbaikars M. Fazal S. Gilitwala, 50, and M. Raji Rafiq, 37, and Vishakha Vishwas Mudhole from Khed town in Ratnagiri.
The police have also recovered a major portion of the loot from them even as the incident on Monday sent shockwaves in the glittering Zaveri Bazar area - the hub of gold jewellery business in south Mumbai.
Recounting the details, Deputy Commissioner of Police, II, Abhinav Deshmukh said that on Monday afternoon, Gilitwala and Rafiq barged into the offices of VBL Bullions in the heart of Zaveri Bazar and assaulted an attendant.
Announcing that "this is an ED raid", they demanded to meet company owner Viratbhai, started "searching" the office and staffers, confiscated their mobiles, and and ordered them to collect all the cash, gold and other valuables.
When worker Dashrath Mali demanded to see their I-cards, they slapped him, and even handcuffed him, and collected the booty worth over Rs 2 crore from the office, plus the mobile phones of the staffers.
They ordered Mali to take them to the other office at Diamond House nearby, where Vishakha Mudhole and her accomplice had already held hostage manager Vijay Shah, and demanded to know the whereabouts of Viratbhai.
Told that Virabhai had gone to his native place, the foursome freed Mali's handcuffs, asked him to leave the premises, grabbed the loot and decamped from there.
The scared Mali informed the shaken company officials and local jewellers on the "raids" but sensing something fishy, the police was informed, said DCP Deshmukh.
The police set up several teams, used tech-intel and scanned CCTV footage of the area and finally zeroed in on the culprits to arrest them.
"We have recovered Rs 15 lakh cash and around 2.70 kg of the stolen gold. We suspect there may be other associates involved in this operation and are on the lookout for them," said Deshmukh.
Meanwhile the accused Gilitwala and Rafiq were produced before the Esplanade Court and have been remanded to seven days' police custody, while the formalities for the accused woman Mudhole are underway.
A police officer said that the narcotic substances were recovered from several soap cases kept in hidden chambers in an 18-wheel truck. The police have arrested the driver Hannan Ali. The vehicle was coming from Manipur and the consignment was most probably to be delivered in Guwahati.
Delhi Police had sought the custody of the arrested persons, which was granted by a duty magistrate on Tuesday. The four persons were arrested on Sunday night. Recently, a fresh case under the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) was lodged by the Delhi Police against the members of PFI, which was banned for five years by the Centre last week.
Punjab Police have arrested 5,824 drug smugglers, including 916 big fish, since July 5, Inspector General Sukhchain Singh Gill said here on Tuesday. He said 203 kg heroin was recovered. Additionally, 147.5 kg heroin was recovered by Punjab Police from seaports of Gujarat and Maharashtra, taking the total effective recovery of heroin to 350 kg in just three months.
Farmers under the aegis of Kisan Mazdur Sangarash Committee (KMSC) held protest and rail roko prorgramme at 17 different places in Punjab on Monday to mark the anniversary of Lakhimpur Kheri incident. It may be noted that 8 persons including four farmers had died during a protest in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3, 2021.
Announcing this on the floor of Assembly, he said the farmers will get the additional amount under State Agreed Price (SAP) of sugarcane as compared to the last year. With this decision, the state government will spend additional Rs 200 crore annually to benefit the farmers.
Accordingly, the police registered a case under sections 302 (murder), 307 (atttempt to murder) and 34 (common intention) at the Adarsh Nagar police station and during investigation, it was revealed that deceased had a quarrel with the five accused classmates in their school, due to which they murdered him to take revenge, while they were going home.
