The Rabale MIDC police have arrested four people for robbing a telecommunication engineer on the pretext of giving him a lift from Ghansoli railway station last week.
Jignesh Shah (30), a resident of Dombivali, was assaulted and robbed of valuables worth ₹52,000 at Rabale MIDC around 9 p.m. on February 18 after he got into a car. There were four men, including the driver, in the car, and it was going towards Mahaoe-Shilphata road. But after reaching petrol pump, the driver took a U-turn and started heading towards Khairane MIDC.
The man sitting to Mr. Shah’s right snatched his cell phone and the one on the left pointed a pistol at his stomach and asked him to hand over his wallet, gold chain, and finger ring. When he resisted, the accused threatened to kill him following which Mr. Shah gave ₹1,000 from his bag, other than the valuables.
The accused then snatched his three ATM cards and assaulted him for the PIN. The four stopped at an ICICI Bank ATM at Khairane MIDC and withdrew ₹36,000. While entering the ATM booth, the accused covered their faces with handkerchiefs to avoid being captured by CCTV cameras. Later, they abandoned Mr. Shah near L&T office at Mahape.
Mr. Shah filed a police complaint the next day. A team under the guidance of senior police inspector Nitin Gite and police inspector Anil Patil scanned footage of around 40 CCTV cameras and identified the car. On Monday, the police nabbed the accused along with the car near the service road at Ghansoli railway station.
“Of the four accused, two have dacoity and autorickshaw theft cases against them. We recovered the stolen cash and valuables, and seized the weapon. Their modus operandi was to rob passengers at gunpoint, and we are investigating how many others have fallen prey,” Pankaj Dahane, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone I, said.
The four have been remanded in police custody till February 29. Since the identification parade of the accused is yet to be done, the names have not been revealed by the police.
