Three Pune policemen arrested for ‘robbing’ businessman

The arrested police personnel have been identified as Ganesh Balasaheb Shinde (35), Ganesh Maruti Kamble (34) and Dilip Maruti Pilane (32), all attached with the Dattawadi police station in Pune city. An alleged hawala agent, Babubhai Rajaram Solanki (47), of Balaji Nagar in Pune has also been held in the case.

The police said that the complainant businessman was transporting hawala cash of Rs 5 crores from Nashik to Mumbai. Solanki is a family member of the complainant and also allegedly works as a hawala agent. After learning about the transportation of cash, Solanki allegedly passed on the information to the three cops at the Dattawadi police station, with whom he had developed good contact.

The three cops reportedly left Pune on the night of March 7 and reached Bhiwandi in the early hours of March 8. They then allegedly intercepted the complainant’s four-wheeler near a petrol pump on the Mumbai-Nashik highway in Bhiwandi. They asked the complainant to show the cash and then allegedly took Rs 45 lakhs from the tranche, before allowing the businessman to leave, the police said.

Senior police inspector MS Ballal said, “During investigation, we arrested Solanki and produced him before a court on Saturday. The court remanded him in police custody for five days for further investigation. As the probe confirmed the role of the three policemen in Pune, we arrested them on Saturday night in the robbery case. Further investigation is being conducted. We have booked the accused persons under Sections 392 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.”