Pune: 3 attack & rob man of Rs 1,000, force him to transfer Rs 3,000 via UPI too

PUNE: The Nigdi police on Tuesday arrested two men on the charge of robbing a man of over Rs 4,000 as well as his smartwatch in Akurdi on Monday night.
The duo and their minor accomplice allegedly assaulted Manish Kurhekar (31) of Akurdi and forced him to transfer Rs3,132 to different bank accounts. They also snatched Rs1,000 from his wallet. A police team led by sub-inspector Jeevan Maske traced the duo, Saurabh Bhosale (21) and Pratik Limbhare (22), both from Nigdi, with the help of their account details. "We have recovered Rs1,000 from the duo and informed the banks about the online transfers," said Maske.
The officer said that Kurhekar, a departmental store manager, was returning home around 8.30pm on Monday. Kurhekar had stopped near Akurdi railway station to answer nature's call when one person intercepted him. The man threatened him with a sharp weapon and snatched his motorcycle key and cellphone. "The man beat Kurhekar and forced him to come along near a temple, where two more men joined the suspect," said Maske.
He said the trio again beat Kurhekar and demanded money from him. One of them snatched his smartwatch. "When Kurhekar said he did not have cash, the man, who had snatched Kurhekar's cellphone, checked his UPI account. He then transferred Rs3,000 to his mother's account, while another man transferred Rs132 to his account. They snatched Rs1,000 from Kurhekar's wallet before throwing away his cellphone and fleeing towards Chinchwad," Maske added.
"Kurhekar then went to the Akurdi police chowkey and informed the police about the incident. We checked the transactions and tracked Bhosale and Limbhare. We have arrested the duo and taken their minor accomplice into custody," said Maske.
"Bhosale and Limbhare are jobless. We are checking whether they were involved in any other crimes," the officer added.