Navi Mumbai: Ex-railway cop’s son arrested for ‘cheating’ aspiring police candidates

The Navi Mumbai Crime Branch arrested the son of a retired railway police employee for allegedly demanding money from candidates applying to Navi Mumbai police. The police claimed that the accused and his accomplices had been cheating the candidates.

According to sources, some candidates approached the Navi Mumbai police on June 4. “The complainant approached us with the head of the coaching centre, where they were undergoing training for police exams. Two women from the coaching centre were on the waiting list. They had received calls from an anonymous person, who claimed that if they were ready to pay him Rs 1 lakh each, he would ensure that extra seats were created for them,” a senior officer from the crime branch said.

On June 5, the crime branch arrested one of the accused, Avinash Dhamle, sources said. “Dhamle had called around eight candidates. While all of them had refused to pay the money, he was going to make more phone calls. However, he is not the main brain behind the crime,” a senior officer said.

The police are on the lookout for another accused, who, they claim, is the mastermind. “They were not running a racket. They were just playing on the anxiety of the candidates who were put on the waiting list. The other accused is a police naik in the Mumbai Railway Protection Force. We are looking for him and will arrest him shortly,” the senior officer said.

Dhamle will be in police custody till June 11, the police said. “He knew the main accused ass his father was in the railway police and had retired recently. His job was to call the candidates and relay the information back to the main accused, in case anyone was willing to pay,” the officer said.

gargi.verma@expressindia.com