Mumbai: On bike, robbers follow merchant for 282 km, loot Rs 15 lakh; held

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“They came to know that the father-son duo always travels by a particular bus,” said an investigator. On March 13, the complainant got into the bus at 10.45 pm from Malegaon. Ansari paid Rs 500 and travelled inside the cabin of the same bus, while his three accomplices followed the bus on their bike. Once Khan got off at Shindewadi junction on the Eastern Express highway in Parel, the three bike-borne men — Shah, Pinjari and Sajeed — attacked him. “The complainant was getting into a cab when the two pillion riders threatened him with a knife and tried to snatch his bag. As the complainant resisted, one of them stabbed his hand and escaped with the bag,” said a police officer.

The trio then returned to Malegaon on bike. Khan reported the matter to police only on March 19. A dacoity case
under relevant sections of IPC was registered.

While scanning CCTV footage, the police could see the bike but its registration number was not clear. “However, further scrutiny revealed Ansari, who had also got off the bus at Parel along with Khan, accidentally sit on the bike while his accomplices were robbing the merchant. Pinjari, who was the driver, asked Ansari to stay away to ensure that he did not get identified,” said an investigator. The police then scrutinised the dump data of networks that had appeared within that area, when they got Ansari’s number and he was arrested from his house in Malegaon. The cash was hidden under his bed.

During investigation, his three accomplices were identified, and they were traced to Surat where a team caught them on Monday.