The accused staged an attack on himself and a colleague when they were transferring funds from a bill payment machine to the power company’s head office
MSEDCL
A Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) operator hatched a clever plan to steal nearly Rs 2.5 lakh from the state-run company by staging an attack on himself and his colleague while they were transferring cash from an All Time Payment (ATP) machine — used by customers to pay electricity bills — to the company head office.
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The incident took place on May 9 but the accused’s luck ran out barely three days later when the Dattawadi Police arrested him and three of his accomplices on Monday night.
On May 9, Pravin Shamrav Shinge (22), associated with a private firm and currently working with MSEDCL as an operator was travelling with his colleague, and complainant in the case, Avinash Chavan on a bike to transfer the Rs 2.30 lakh in cash they had withdrawn from the MSEDCL ATP machine near Neelayam Talkies to the company head office in Rasta Peth. Three people took the bag from the duo by throwing red chilli powder in Chavan’s eyes and fled.
Recovery
“We arrested all the accused on Monday night and the court has remanded them in police custody till May 15. So far, we have recovered Rs 1,60,000 in cash and one cellphone used in the crime from them,” said S S Nimbalkar, police inspector, Dattawadi Police Station.
hree accused in the case have been identified as Mangesh Prabhakar Badaskar (23), Dheeraj Dattoba Ranavde (20) and Mahesh Suresh Jambhulkar (21).
Police constable Sachin Dhawle of the Dattawadi Police, who played an important role in cracking the case, said, “While investigating the case, I got some crucial inputs which helped us identify Shinge’s role in the case. We caught the remaining three accused through him.”
