New Delhi: Inspired by Akshay Kumar-starrer Bollywood flick ‘Special 26’, four persons, including two women, posing as Mumbai Police officials robbed a wellness company in the national capital, an official said on Sunday.
The gang comprised eight members in total. Seven of them were arrested by Delhi Police. They have been identified as Prashant Kumar Patil (29), Jahid (43), Neha alias Anjali (30), Neha Kashyap (22), Imran (20), Faisal (42), and Sanjay Manocha (52). Search is on for the eighth accused.
Furnishing the details, Deputy Commissioner of Police (northwest) Usha Rangnani said that Vijay Yadav, the complainant who owns a wellness company located in Netaji Subhash Place Complex in Pitampura, approached the police on August 10 and said that four persons, claiming to be from the Mumbai Police, entered his office on the pretext of conducting a raid.
“They started physically assaulting Yadav and demanded Rs 20 lakh from him. They also forced the complainant to call his wife at gunpoint and ask for the money. The complainant’s wife then came with Rs 5.75 lakh, which was collected by a female gang member from outside the office,” the DCP said.
At around 5:30 p.m., the robbers locked the complainant and his four female employees in the office and left with the cash, 10 mobile phones, one laptop, and around 45,000 cash collected from inside the office.
During the investigation, the police came to know about a few other suspects who had accompanied the four robbers but didn’t enter the office. It was suspected that these other accused persons might have been known to the complainant due to which they didn’t go inside the office.
“Raids were conducted at several locations and one suspect, Prashant Kumar Patil, was nabbed,” Rangnani said.
On sustained interrogation, Patil disclosed that he along with seven others, including two women, were involved in this robbery. On Patil’s instance, both the accused women were nabbed from different locations in Delhi.
During further interrogation, it was found that two other accused — Jahid alias Guru Jee and Sanjay Manocha — had fled to Mewat in Haryana, while three others — Majid, Faisal, and Imran — fled to Bhopal and Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh.
The police then conducted multiple raids and arrested Jahid from Mewat, Imran from Vidisha, Faisal from Bhopal, and Sanjay from his hideout in Delhi.
“Within 72 hours of the incident, seven out of the eight accused persons were nabbed by the police. The cash they had robbed has also been recovered,” Rangnani said.
During the investigation, it was found that Mazid, Faisal, Imran, and Neha alias Anjali had entered the office of the complainant, presenting themselves as Mumbai Police officials.
Since the other accused persons were known to the complainant, they didn’t go inside.
Jahid and Prashant were the main conspirators of this robbery.
“Prashant is JE in Central government posted in Rajasthan (under suspension), but he had a criminal mind and he was arrested by Bhopal Crime Branch in a case which was registered against him with allegations of cheating people instead of sanctioning loan from a fake company,” the DCP said.
