Mumbai Crime: 2 fake cops held for assaulting, looting paan shop owner

The fake police ID and mask recovered from the duo

Taking advantage of the fact that the city cops are acting against non-essential shops found running in the lockdown, some anti-social elements are posing as the men in uniform to threaten and extort money from the owners of such shops. Recently, the Dahisar police arrested two men who allegedly raided a paan shop in Anand Nagar, kidnapped the shopkeeper and robbed him of Rs 7,000 cash and cigarettes worth Rs 65,000. According to police sources, the duo, posing as officers of the Mumbai Crime Branch, raided vendor Ramesh Chaurasiya's paan shop and looted cigarette packets. Later, on the pretext of taking him to the police station, they forcibly made him sit in their car and took him to Mira Road. On reaching near the Delhi Darbar hotel, they stopped the car, assaulted him and looted him of Rs 7,000 cash.

Chaurasiya later approached the Dahisar police station and registered a complaint in the matter. With the help of CCTV footage, assistant police inspector, Om Totawar and his detection staff traced one of the accused - Sandeep Khot, 32, - to Nalasopara. Based on the information provided by him, they caught the other accused, Ramesh Mishra, 45, from the same area. A police officer said, "During the search we also recovered a fake police ID, mask with a printed police logo and a stick from the duo."

Further investigation revealed that Khot had a criminal background and he was previously caught by the Andheri and Tulinj police in cheating and gambling cases. The accused have also confessed to committing similar crimes in the city.

"We arrested them under IPC sections 397, 365, 170, 504 and 506(2) and section 37 read with 125 Maharashtra Police Act. The duo was produced before court and have been remanded in judicial custody," said an officer from Dahisar police station.