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.
Moving a resolution to this regard, Mann said that the main function of the Punjab State Vigilance Commission is to enquire or cause enquires into complaints alleging commission of offences by a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.
In spite of the pressure and demand to step down, the accused seer has categorically refused to quit, according to sources. The meeting was held in the leadership of former minister H Ekantaiah in this regard and discussed future course of action.
According to information, the deceased used to beat the juveniles and would often snatch their money to buy alcohol and drugs. The juveniles had been planning to take revenge for this. A senior police official said that the deceased was identified as Ajay, a resident of Labor Colony in Outer Delhi. The official said that the juveniles stabbed him repeatedly and fled from the crime scene.
The murder of Brar, who was a close relative of Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar, has triggered an inter-gang rivalry between the Davinder Bambiha gang and the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, leading to a spate of murders in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and the National Capital Region (NCR) Delhi. Brar was shot dead outside a nightclub in Chandigarh in October 2020.
It was alleged that the accused illegally collected public deposits throughout Odisha by alluring the people with various deposit schemes falsely promising high returns and did not refund the maturity amount and thereby cheated the investors of their due amount.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested two persons for extorting money from foreign nationals in the form of cryptocurrencies and gift vouchers. The accused were identified as Vijay and Vishal.
