The 65-year-old accused was detained at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi
Representational picture
One member of an international gang of cheats has been arrested after Mumbai police in coordination with immigration department issued Look Out Circular (LOC) against him after the prime accused Sher Hamedani, an Irani national, cheated Saifik Ullah Ibadi on the pretext of seeing how the new Indian currency looks like. The accused had come to India on a tourist visa last year.
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The 65-year-old accused Hamedani was detained at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi after he arrived from a neighbouring country, where he had flown after cheating Ibadi in January and was brought to the city on transit remand this week. The Malabar police, probing into the matter, suspect the foreign national must have cheated others in the city as well.
Ibadi, who is employed at Afghani consulate, was walking in Walkeshwar area of south Mumbai on January 26 when Hamedani. "Ibadi and his friends were approached by Hamedani and his accomplice on the pretext of seeing the colours and size of new Indian currency. Since the accused duo was well dressed and speaking fluent English, Ibadi took out his wallet and shown the Indian as well as foreign currencies to Hamedani, who trickily pocketed American, Indian and Australian currencies collectively worth Rs. 11,137 of Ibadi and the accused duo got inside their car and sped away," an officer privy to the investigation told mid-day.
Ibadi realised him being cheated by the foreign nationals only after he took out his wallet to purchase something at a shop. He reached Malabar police station where a case under sections 420 and 34 of IPC was registered.
The investigating team including Nilesh Bankar and staff reached the crime spot and scanned CCTV footage but neither the face of the accused nor the registration number of their car was properly visible. The team scrutinised the footages of CCTV cameras installed on the route which the accused had taken to escape post crime on January 26.
After studying nearly 50 CCTV cameras, the cops finally reached an affluent hotel at Juhu where the duo accused with their suspected accomplices had stayed.
"They had taken Bandra Worli Sea link to reach Juhu from South Mumbai after the crime. The registration number of their car was captured at its toll plaza. During investigation, it was found that Santa Cruz traffic division had slapped them fine for parking the same car in no parking zone. We are probing the role of the owner of the car too," the officer said.
By the time police reached the hotel, they had checked-out their rooms. "But we got the details of their personal credentials like passports and other relevant documents from the hotel. During primary investigation we found that the accused have left for Sri Lanka," the officer said.
Considering the matter as sensitive, the zonal deputy commissioner of police Dhyaneshwar Chavan issued a request letter to the immigration department and a LOC was issued. "On March 21, we received a call from Delhi from the concerned agency at the airport and were informed that the suspect including a juvenile has arrived there at international airport from Sri Lanka. One team was despatched there and brought both the accused on transit remand to Mumbai," said Vinod Kamble, senior inspector of Malabar police station.
During the investigation, it was found that the foreign nationals had come to India last year during November and roamed in bigger cities including Delhi, Surat, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad where they stayed in hotels, said another officer privy to the investigation. The probe team suspects that the international gang has cheated many people but the case the victims have not registered the case considering the amount to be meagre. "We request people to come forward and register a case if they have ever been cheated by the gang members," urged the officer.
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