Less than a week after he robbed a hotelier in Bhayandar by posing as a CID officer, the 48-year-old imposter landed into the custody of the Navghar police. The arrest turned out to be a prize catch for the crime detection team as the accused identified as Anwar Abdul Hamid Shaikh alias Munnawar (45) turned out to be a serial offender who has committed more than four dozen robberies in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai and also in West Bengal by posing as a police official.
The action followed in response to a complaint filed by a local hotelier Mohan Suru Shetty who became a target of the accused on Wednesday (June 22). Shetty was walking towards Jesal Park to meet his sister when an unidentified man aged around 40 years claiming to be a CID officer stopped him near an ornament showroom and informed him about the kidnapping of a child by a person who was wearing a red shirt.
Since, Shetty was wearing a red shirt, the fake cop on the pretext of probing his suspected involvement in the crime, took him to a nearby building and asked him to hand over his gold chain, ring and cash. Shetty complied and the encounter ended with him being robbed of Rs. 8,900 cash and gold ornaments worth Rs. 1,10,000.
A team led by API Yogesh Kale under the supervision of Senior Police Inspector Milind Desai immediately scanned footage captured by CCTV cameras at the crime scene and possible getaway routes on the virtue of which the accused was tracked using electronic surveillance. The police recovered the stolen ornaments. "I am really thankful to the police department," said Shetty.
Meanwhile, an offence under sections 170 (impersonating a public servant) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC has been registered against the accused who has been remanded to custody as further investigations are underway.
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