Posing as I-T sleuths, 8 ‘rob’ man of Rs 1.6 cr

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According to the police, prime accused Jagdish Mewada learnt that his uncle Jayanti Sarvaiya had Rs 1.64 crore in cash and jewellery, stored in the house for his friend Ramji Shah. Ramji approached police on realising the sleuths were fake.

“Jagdish had borrowed Rs 3 lakh from his uncle. In May, he needed Rs 3 lakh and asked his uncle, who refused,” said Assistant Police Inspector Pradeep Raorane. Jagdish and the other suspects had lost money playing lottery in Dharavi, police said. Jagdish allegedly told Bharat Singhalia about the valuables. “Bharat brought seven friends and planned to break into the house. They tried thrice but were unsuccessful,” Raorane said.

After the third attempt, they borrowed an idea from Special 26, a film about a gang that conducted robberies disguising themselves as sleuths.

On June 2, police said, Qadar Shaikh, Pankaj Chavan, Balkrishna Arason and the accused who is yet to be arrested went to Sarvaiya’s home and introduced themselves as I-T sleuths. “They walked out with the goods,” said Fathesingh Patil, Additional Commissioner of Police, North Region. “We have their custody until June 20,” Raorane said.

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