As the police started probing the other possibility, sustained questioning of the trader and his family members revealed that he had staged the robbery. (Representative image)A debt-ridden garment trader in Pune staged an armed robbery at his home to gain sympathy from lenders to whom he owes around Rs 42 lakh, the police said Sunday after completing an investigation into his complaint.
According to the police, on July 23, the garment trader, 53, approached the Samarth police station around noon saying that two people entered his house at Somwar Peth around 10.45 am on the pretext of delivering an Aadhaar card. His wife was alone at the house then as he was at his shop, he told the police. He said that they beat up his wife with footwear and held her at knifepoint. They searched the entire house and fled with 400 grams of gold and cash worth Rs 15 lakh, he told the police.
Though the police registered a first information report (FIR) of armed robbery and house trespass, they suspected that the trader was lying. The police said that the trader turned his house upside down to make it seem as if it was messed up by the robbers.
The police deployed fingerprint analysers, a canine squad and forensics experts to look for clues. One team started looking into the footage of the security cameras installed in the area.
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“Since the beginning, there were discrepancies in the story that the complainant’s wife was telling us. She also refused to come for the medical examination required to establish that she was beaten. The responses of the trader, his wife and their daughter changed drastically as the sniffer dog was taken to the house. Above all, we did see no suspicious activity or movement on the premises of the building in the security camera footage,” said an officer who was part of the probe.
As the police started probing the other possibility, sustained questioning of the trader and his family members revealed that he had staged the robbery. “Investigation suggests that the complainant owes Rs 42 lakh to his lenders and wanted to gain sympathy to seek more time to repay loans. They had hidden cash and jewellery in the house and later presented it before us during their questioning.” said senior inspector Ramesh Sathe, in-charge of the Samarth police station.
He added: “We are in the process of registering an offence against the complainant’s family on the charges of registering a false complaint.”
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