‘Vasai contractor made up robbery story to avoid paying debt’

THANE: The Kasarvadavli police recently called a labour contractor from Vasai bluff for allegedly making up a story of being robbed. This, they claimed, was done to deny paying his debtors.
Cops said, Mohammad Ali Shaikh, the contractor, filed a complaint at Kasarwadavli police station last week claiming that four persons on two bikes snatched his bag containing Rs 8 lakh.

The crime branch unit-5, led by senior inspector Jairaj Ranavare and sub-inspector Shivraj Bendre, carried out a parallel probe and summoned Shaikh for questioning. Assistant police commissioner, Mukund Hatote, said that the story Shaikh came up with gave them serious doubts as there were huge disparities in his statements.

The police then took him to the construction site of a renowned builder in Govandi where the labourers told the police that Shaikh had not paid their salaries since the past few months.

“We learnt that in the past he had taken money from a builder, but did not pay it to the labourers and spent it elsewhere. He was unable to pay the dues amounting to Rs 24 lakh,” said Ranavare. Further interrogations revealed that he had cooked up the robbery story to cover up the fact that he was in debt.

The further interrogations revealed that the as he was heavily in debts and to cover up the same he cooked up the story of robbery. He then paid a part of the debt with the Rs 8 lakh that he had claimed was robbed.

We learnt that in the past he had taken money from a builder, but did not pay it to the labourers and spent it elsewhere. He was unable to pay the dues amounting to Rs 24 lakh