The Khandeshwar police have arrested a former Mahanagar Gas contractor for duping people by posing as an employee of the company.
The police said Pramod Krishna Mayekar (47), a resident of Wadala, on the pretext of providing a gas connection or taking the reading of the gas meter has stolen valuables from a house in Khandeshwar in Navi Mumbai, one in Shivaji Park in Dadar, and two residences in Bhoiwada in Kalyan. He was earlier arrested in 2016 by the Nerul police.
The police said Mr. Mayekar has robbed people using the same modus operandi in Mulund, Vile Parle, Nayanagar, Bhayender and Nirmal Nagar. The police said the accused would approach flats with forms that had the letterhead of Mahanagar Gas. A graduate, who spoke fluent English, the accused would explain the benefits of taking a gas connection.
He would then ask residents to fill a form and pay ₹9,500 in cash to secure the connection. The police said the accused insisted on the payment being made in cash. If the residents gave him a cheque, he would ask them to keep the ‘name’ field blank.
If the flat owners already had a connection, he would claim that he has come take a reading of the gas meter. Being short in height, he would ask for a stool or a chair to reach the meter. When the resident went into a room to fetch a stool, the accused would grab whatever he could find and flee.
Police sub-inspector Vaibhav Ronge said, “While investigating the case, we identified the accused using CCTV footage. He turned out to be a history-sheeter. We finally nabbed him from Wadala.”
Mr. Ronge said the accused robbed a mangalsutra from a flat in Khandeshwar on January 20 this year when the complainant went into a room to get some documents that were required to fill the form.
Published - October 16, 2020 11:43 pm IST
