It was a nightmare for Yemeni national Saleh Othman Ahmed, 52, who had come to Pune for his wife's treatment when a gang of criminals posing as police officers deceived and looted the victim in the Kondhwa area of Pune on February 8.
According to the police, Saleh and his wife were walking to their residence at Ashirwad Chowk in Kondhwa Budruk at around 4.26 pm when the accused approached them in a car. The accused conversed in Arabic with the victim posing as a police officer. The accused asked the victim to hand over his documents for checking purposes.
Think that he is dealing with cops the victim handed over the documents and the money from his pocket to the accused. The accused sniffed the documents and the money, pretending to investigate the documents. In a fraction of a second, the gang stole a total of 8,000 Saudi Riyals, $3,000, and Rs 53,000 from Ahmed by exploiting his language barrier and feigning authority and fled the scene.
Accordingly, the victim immediately contacted the police and narrated the incident. Immediate efforts to track down the culprits were initiated by the police. The police, when examining the CCTV footage, identified four suspects who travelled from Khalapur toll post to various locations, including Navi Mumbai, Turbhe, Thane, Palghar, Khaniwade toll post and eventually to the Gujarat state border and the Union Territory of Daman. The police intercepted the suspects after they arrived in Pune city and seized the vehicle used in the crime.
The accused, Sinkar Ali Khan, Karim Feroze Khan, Irfan Hussain Hashmi and Mehboob Abdul Hamdi Khan, all residents of South Delhi, were arrested after an extensive technical analysis of almost 600 CCTV footage spanning a distance of 750 Km from Pune to Daman. The Pune Police have registered a case against the accused under sections 170, 419, 471, 420, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Additionally, a separate case has been filed in connection with a similar crime committed against another Yemeni citizen.
Along with a Honda City car that was used in the crime, the police seized cash totalling Rs 2,00,000. Senior police inspector of the Kondhwa Police Station, Santosh Sonawane, praised the investigative team's work in taking down the interstate gang.