Two cops who duped businessman of Rs 13 lakh dismissed

PSI Anil Sonawane has been absconding since August 2020 (right) Constable David Bansode

A Sub-Inspector and a constable posted at Malwani police station have been dismissed from the service after a probe found them guilty of involvement in a fake currency racket. PSI Anil Sonawane, the main accused in the case, and Constable David Bansode had allegedly duped a Gujarat-based businessman of Rs 13 lakh. Police sub inspector (PSI) Sonawane, who was famously known as Singham in the police department, is absconding since August 2020, when the case was registered. mid-day reported about their involvement in the scam in a report on September 7, 2020.

Additional Commissioner of Police, North Region, Pravin Padwal dismissed both the Sonawane and Bansode last week. During the investigation, police also found out that Sonawane had not completed the investigation in around 19 cases, eight special cases and 27 Accidental Death Reports between 2017 and 2019. Malwani police had earlier traced him to his village in Dhule, from where he had escaped with his father.

The case

The complainant, identified as Yagnesh Krishna Kumar Pandya, 28, has a charcoal business and is a resident of Jamnagar. He had suffered a huge loss during the lockdown and came to Mumbai to recover the lost amount, according to his complaint. In the city, he met Jaysingh Rathod and a few other accused in the case. The duo presented a scheme to Pandya, wherein they asked him to deposit fake currency notes worth Rs 10,000 in a bank. They convinced him that no one would find out those were fake. They told him to pay him genuine currency worth Rs 15 lakh and in turn they would give him fake currency of Rs 1 crore to deposit in his account. Pandya arranged R13 lakh from a Mumbai-based wholesaler, Mahendra Thakkar, to pay the accused.

On August 25, Rathod and Dave took Pandya to Malwani where other accused were also present. Pandya was in a car with Shabaz Sanghwani when Sonawane and Bansode arrived and seized the money. They allowed Pandya to escape. When Pandya later spoke to Rathod, he was told that police caught the others. But, Pandya got suspicious and checked with the Malwani police and found out that no such incident was registered with them. He then realised that he had been cheated.

He approached the Malwani police who registered a case under various sections of the IPC against both Sonawane and Bansode. Police had arrested accused Shabaz and Aabid Ismail Shah, both residents of Malwani, in 2020. Others accused, Rathod, Aasif Sanghwani and Rafiq Bhatti, have not been arrested yet.