Mumbai: Seven held for looting at gunpoint after luring with massage, spa services at Vakola hotel

Mumbai Police officials with the seized property of the suspects on Saturday

Mumbai Police on Saturday said that it has arrested as many as seven suspects allegedly involved in looting customers at gunpoint after luring them with massage and spa services at a hotel in Vakola area of western Mumbai.

According to the police, on July 7, the complainant in the matter had reached out to the Vakola Police Station. In his complaint, the victim told the police that he had visited Hotel Baba Homes where he was looted by a gang at gunpoint.

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The accused, identified as Nilesh Saroj, 24 along with his four accomplices, executed a meticulously planned crime that involved intimidation, theft, and illegal money transfers. However, their nefarious activities came to an abrupt end when the Vakola Police successfully apprehended them, the police said.

According to the complaint filed by the victim, the suspects, under the threat of a gun, coerced them into providing massage services at a Vakola based hotel. Taking advantage of his vulnerability, Nilesh, along with his four accomplices, proceeded to transfer substantial sums of money from the victims' individual bank accounts to their own, in addition to forcibly seizing cash from the victims' wallets. The accused, operating at gunpoint, managed to take Rs 95,000 from the victim as online transfer and also took away Rs 10,000 cash from his possession, the police said.

Upon receiving the complaint, the Vakola Police registered a case under relevant IPC section and an investigative team was promptly formed and dispatched to search for the suspects. Utilizing technical expertise, the police team received information suggesting that the accused were present in the Andheri area. Acting on this lead, the officers set up a trap and successfully apprehended Nilesh and three of his accomplices, an official said.

The four arrested individuals were identified as Nilesh Shivkumar Saroj (24), Vishal Rajesh Singh (20), Aditya Umashankar Saroj (19), and Suresh Ramkumar Saroj (21), an official said.

Subsequently, based on information obtained from them, three additional accomplices were also arrested. They were identified as Kuldeep Sheshnath Singh (28), Suresh Ram Singh Vishwakarma (46), and Sapon Kumar Ashwini Kumar Sheet (38), he said.

The police investigations revealed that one of the arrested accused used to work earlier with a spa centre in Mumbai and he had contact details of some of the customers. The suspects used to use the numbers available with them to contact the customers and offer services at cheap rates to lure them. Once a customer used to visit the hotel, the suspects would threaten them at gunpoint and loot them, the official said.

During the arrests, the police seized incriminating evidence, including three live cartridges, Rs 10,000 in cash, and a total of nine mobile phones from them.

The successful operation was carried out under the leadership of Dikshit Gedam, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 8 of Mumbai Police.

The police said that further investigations in the matter are underway.