10 October,2020 03:56 PM IST | Mumbai | Vishal Singh
Accused Shyamsunder Sharma
The Mumbai Crime Branch arrested a person, who posed as an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, for allegedly kidnapping a Surat-based businessman and extorting Rs 16 lakh. The accused has been identified as Shyamsunder Sharma (38), a resident of Ajmer in Rajasthan.
Mohammed Ehtesham Aslam Naviwala, a businessman from Surat, who is into garment export business, had borrowed money from some businessmen. However, he was unable to return the money and had gone into hiding in Bengaluru.
While he was into hiding, Naviwala received a call from a man, who introduced himself as IPS officer Sharma. The man claimed to solve the pending case against Naviwala in DRI and asked him to come to Mumbai.
When Naviwala came to Mumbai, he was taken to the Ambassador Hotel at Marine Drive and Sharma also called the people, from whom Naviwala had borrowed money, to the hotel.
At the hotel, Sharma, assaulted Naviwala and took him to Surat, threatening to file a case there. After reaching Surat, Sharma demanded Rs 15 lakh from Naviwala and also took his Apple watch.
After getting suspicious, Naviwala contacted Surat police, who later on transferred it to Mumbai police. The Mumbai Crime Branch formed a team and started the investigation. API Raju Surve and API Pawar went to Surat to investigate and found that Sharma had left for Bangalore. The crime branch team chased Sharma for over 24 hours by road from Gujarat to Bengaluru and arrested him from Hubli in Karnataka.
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During probe, it was found that the accused extorted money from big businessmen by posing as a senior IPS officer. He did all this for a luxurious lifestyle, investigations have revealed.
The crime branch also learnt that Sharma was arrested last year for impersonating IPS officer and duping an eatery shop owner of several lakhs of rupees in Madhya Pradesh. Sharma also reportedly cheated a female police officer from Gujarat police by promising to marry her and then scooting off after taking a big amount of money from her.
Senior police inspector of anti-extortion cell, Ajay Sawant, told Mid-day, "After registering the complaint, we have arrested the accused from Karnataka and are investigating further."
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