How Rahul Nikam got caught

The son of the former cop thought it would be easy to swindle money from a police inspector. But he slipped up when the inspector took down his vehicle number

The son of the former cop thought it would be easy to swindle money from a police inspector. But he slipped up when the inspector took down his vehicle number

His father spent his whole life protecting the law, but Rahul Nikam (25), did not think twice before taking to crime. It was discovered that Nikam, the unemployed son of a retired inspector, swindled police officials recently. He is now behind bars, thanks to a vigilant cop.

On Sunday, Rahul called the BKC police station posing as Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 1) Vishwas Nagre Patil and asked for the mobile number of Senior Inspector of Police Rolphi Parera.

The call

Rahul Vishwas Nikam (25) outside the Bandra Kurla Complex Police Station

He then called Parera as Nagre Patil and ordered him to hand over Rs 2,500 to his son for his college admissions. After a few minutes, Rahul called back, once again posing as the DCP.

"This time he said his son needed Rs 9,500 in cash. He asked if I could pay the sum and assured me that he would return the money by Monday," said Parera.

Parera informed the caller that he had kept aside Rs 15,000 for his ailing 80-year-old father admitted at Asian Heart hospital. Giving the cop a description of his 'son', the caller instructed Parera to make a policeman wait outside the BKC police station with the money.u00a0

Something fishyu00a0

However, Parera found the call fishy. Each time he tried speaking to the 'DCP' in English, he replied in Marathi. He called Sub-inspector Ashok Chauhan, who was on duty, and asked him to observe the person who came to collect the money and note down his vehicle number.u00a0u00a0

On Monday, when Parera did not receive the borrowed money, he dialed the number from which he had received the calls. When his calls went unattended, Parera called Nagre Patil, only to realise that he had been duped.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0

However, since Chauhan had noted down the registration number of Rahul's vehicle, tracing him was a piece of cake.

Confessing to his crime, Rahul, the son of retired police inspector Vishwas Nikam, informed the police that he had duped cops from Shivaji Park and Kandivli police stations as well. Interestingly, he returned the money to the other cops, including Parera.

Money-order receipts addressed to the two police stations have been recovered
from him.u00a0u00a0u00a0

Top cop speaks

D Shivanandan, city police commissioner, says, "The modus operandi is like a Nigerian scam u2014 people have to verify any unsolicited emails or phone calls before making any payment or advances. The police officer should have contacted DCP Zone 1 immediately on receiving the call. But still, we appreciate the presence of mind of the officer, which led the police to arrest the accused."

Shivanandan adds, "People are fond of shortcuts to make easy money and police officer's children are no exemption. Even in the past, there were instances where police kids were involved in crime. But no one is above the law."

Who is Rahul Nikam?
A BSC final year student from a reputed college in South Mumbai, Rahul is a perfect crook. He has given different versions since his arrest. First, he said his car got damaged and that he wanted money to repair it. Later, he said he owed money to his friends and thirdly, he said he needed the money for his admission fees.

The police are skeptical of all the reasons.

Rahul says he got the idea of duping police officers after listening to his father who would talk about how IPS officers' instructions are never disobeyed by police and the power the posts carry. Rahul then tried this tactic on real cops.