41-year-old news anchor robbed of Rs 41,000 at gunpoint in Pune: Police

The accused took him out of the car, stole his phone, wallet, gold chain worth Rs 20,000 and watch.

A 41-year-old man was allegedly robbed of Rs 41,000 and a gold chain while he was returning to Navi Mumbai from Pune on Wednesday night. According to police, Girish Nikam, who is an anchor with Zee 24 Taas, a Marathi news channel, and lives in Kharghar in Navi Mumbai, was left gagged and bound in the middle of the freeway at night, police said.

“He had gone to Pune for some personal work and was returning on Wednesday night. He was waiting for a ST bus at Swargate, Pune for hours,” said a senior officer privy to the case.

At 10 pm, a car approached him and the driver told him he was heading towards Mumbai and was one passenger short. Nikam decided to get into the car, which had three other passengers, said police. “Nikam was told that only one seat was left in the car and in only Rs 250, he could reach Kharghar,” the officer said.

However, when the car reached Kalamboli, one of the passengers took out a gun and robbed Nikam, police said. “At gunpoint, the accused took him out of the car, stole his phone, wallet, gold chain worth Rs 20,000 and watch,” the officer said.

“They withdrew Rs 41,000 from his debit card. After reaching Kalamboli, the suspects returned Nikam’s phone and debit card and abandoned him,” said police.

“We have registered the case, but since he got in the car at Pune, we transferred the case to the Pune police. However, we are on the lookout of the men, if they appear on our jurisdiction, we will take necessary action,” said an officer from Kalamboli police station.