Gang poses as I-T officials, rob bizman of Rs 81 lakh; 13 held

In a crime that looked like a real life version of a Bollywood potboiler, over a dozen men posed as Income Tax sleuths and robbed cash and goods worth more than Rs 81 lakh from a businessman in suburban Dahisar last week, police said Wednesday.

Police have arrested 13 people, including the mastermind of the crime Altaf Kagdi alias Sameer, in the last four days while search is on for four others, an official said.

The men gained entry into the house of the victim, Kishan Belwate (59), who runs a courier service, on June 8 afternoon by claiming that they had come there to collect illegal cash, the official said, adding that the accused even showed Belwate their "identity cards".

Once inside, the gang told Belwate that he was hording a huge cash and will be probed.

Scared Belwate collected Rs 80.40 lakh cash and handed it over to the accused, the official said, adding that the gang also took four high-end mobile phones worth Rs 1.21 lakh along with them.

Before walking out, they told Belwate that they were seizing cash and the mobile phones for investigation.

However, sensing something fishy the businessman approached police, following which a case was registered.

The breakthrough came Tuesday when police picked up an auto-rickshaw driver from the area who spilled the beans on others, the official said.

The accused were produced before a local court on Wednesday which remanded them to police custody till June 17.