The central unit of the Crime Branch has arrested three men from Nerul who were wanted in cases of cheating people under the pretext of counting currency for them in banks.
Mohammad Affsar Ali Jaffery (32) from Mumbra, and Ambivali residents Zakir Riyas Irani (32) and Sarver Anu Sayyed (33) were arrested after the unit received information that they had fled from a bank in Rabale after cheating a person of ₹5,000. “The three would travel in autorickshaws and target random banks. They looked for vulnerable people. One of the accused would approach a person under the pretext of helping him count currency or finding fake currency,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Tushar Doshi from Crime Branch said. Mr. Jaffery, who was the driver of an autorickshaw, used it while commiting crimes.
An accused would approach the target, who would have just withdrawn cash and tell him that there seemed to be fake notes in the bundle. “The accused would convince the target to hand over the cash. Under the pretext of showing him some stain on the notes, the accused would hide a few in his palm and immediately move the hand behind, where his accomplice would be standing. In a minute or two, the accused managed to flick ₹72,000 from a bundle of ₹5 lakh in a case registered with Vasai police,” police inspector Nivrutti Kolhatkar from the central unit said.
With the arrest of the three men, close to six cases have been solved, of which two are from Navi Mumbai, the police said. Two cases each were registered with Kalamboli and Rabale police in which the accused have made away with ₹38,000 and ₹5,000 respectively. They made away with ₹21,000 in N.M. Joshi Marg, ₹64,000 from Byculla, and ₹22,000 from Mira Road. The accused are currently in police custody.