Mumbai crime news: Police arrest two persons for posing as IPS officers, duping bank staffer of Rs 35.25 lakh

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Mumbai police has arrested two men who allegedly posed as Indian Police Service officers and duped an employee of a nationalised bank and his friend of Rs 35.25 lakh by promising to provide a favourable posting.

News wire PTI reported quoting an official that the crime branch's property cell on Sunday arrested the accused Ganesh Shivaji Chavan (33) and Manoj Kupinder Pawar (43) from suburban Chembur and Vashi in Navi Mumbai respectively.

According to the police, the complainant met the accused through a friend. The duo posed as IPS officers and claimed they had contacts in the Central government departments.

The accused demanded Rs 1 crore from the complainant and his friend for providing a favourable posting with the bank and accepted Rs 35.25 lakh through cash and bank transactions over the last four years, the official said.

The accused also provided a fake appointment letter, which they claimed was issued by the Union finance minister, he said, adding that when the complainant started demanding the money back, the duo threatened him.

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The police suspect that the accused may have similarly duped other people and are probing their antecedents, the official said.

Two sisters held for beating woman to death in Thane

Meanwhile, two sisters were arrested on Monday for allegedly beating to death a 22-year-old woman following a dispute in Maharashtra's Thane district, police said.

One of the accused, aged 30, was the victim's sister-in-law, who married another man after her husband's death and lived separately.

During the Diwali festival earlier this month, the victim, who was separated from her husband, and her sister had a quarrel with the accused and the latter warned them of dire consequences, an official from Kalwa police station said quoting a complaint by the victim's mother, who is a ragpicker.

On November 25, the victim went to a public toilet in Kalwa area but did not return.

When her mother went to search for her, she saw the accused, her sister and another woman thrashing the victim.

They allegedly pulled the victim by her hair, kicked her and pushed her to the ground, the official said.

When the complainant and a man tried to rescue the victim, they were also beaten up.

The badly injured victim was rushed to a local hospital. As her condition was serious, she was later taken to the Sion hospital in neighbouring Mumbai where she died during treatment on Sunday morning, the police said.

The 30-year-old accused and her sister were arrested and they along with another woman were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention), the official said.

Efforts were on to trace the third accused, the police added. (With inputs from agencies)