Eight held from Bengaluru for robbing man of Rs 31.7 lakh in Navi Mumbai

Thane: The Navi Mumbai police have arrested eight persons from Bengaluru in connection with a dacoity and abduction case, in which they posed as policemen to rob a man of Rs 31.7 lakh.

The accused were apprehended from the jurisdiction of Upperpet police station in Bengaluru on June 2, within 36 hours of the crime that took place in the Juinagar area of Navi Mumbai on May 31, senior inspector Devidas Katale said.

He said the victim was in the business of depositing cash in ATMs for others, and the gang targeted him at an ATM of a nationalised bank in Juinagar on the morning of May 31.

One of the accused posed as a policeman, punched the victim, verbally abused him, and forced him into a car, he said.

The official said the accused allegedly threatened the victim and snatched away cash to the tune of Rs 31.73 lakh before abandoning him on Palm Beach Road.

"Our probe team identified the car used in the crime. On enquiring with the driver, we found out that the accused allegedly posed as police officers from the Kerala cyber police and took the car from the Sanpada bridge and left it there after committing the robbery," he said.

The police received a tip-off that the gang had fled to Bengaluru, and a team was dispatched to the city, the official said.

He said that the accused were natives of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and the police recovered valuables worth Rs 30.4 lakh from them.

A first information report (FIR) has been registered against the accused under sections 310(2) (dacoity), 138 (abduction), 204 (personating a public servant), and 61 (Criminal Conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the official said.