Cops arrest man who lodged FIR against 4 for stealing Rs 55 lakh

In a turn of events, an office assistant, who had lodged an FIR with the DB Marg police yesterday after claiming he was robbed of Rs 55 lakh by four unknown people near Surati Hotel, Bhuleshwar, was arrested for stealing the money.

DB Marg police with Bhaskar More (in green) and the stolen Rs 55 Lakh. Pic/Milind Karekar

MiD DAY had reported yesterday that Bhaskar More, an employee of Build Cube, Soham House, Mulund (E), owned by Amit Joshi, told the police that he was going to Bhuleshwar to deliver the money in a car as asked by Swapnesh Agarwal, a chartered accountant in the company.

However, a little before Bhuleshwar, the driver asked him to get down and get into a jeep due to a no-entry for taxis in the area. When More got into a jeep, four people already sitting in it robbed him of the cash and other valuables, including a cell phone and Rs 5,000.

The police grew suspicious when More said that he had called Agarwal after the theft. When they asked him how, as his mobile was stolen, More claimed to have used a pay phone as he remembered the number by heart. When asked to recite it, he could not do so, which alerted the cops.

After that, they questioned him several times regarding his journey and found that he was changing his version of sitting in the jeep when he was already travelling in a taxi, and was evasive regarding the taxi driver asking him to sit in a jeep. Officials said More needed money as his sister-in-law was suffering from cancer and he wanted to pay off his home loan as well.

"More had given Rs 55 lakh to his father-in-law Gajanan Yadav, telling him that an Income Tax raid was in progress in office and had asked him to take the money to Chiplun in Ratnagiri," said Pandurang Sanas, police inspector of DB Marg police station. "We have arrested More and will check the role of his father-in-law. The amount has been recovered," said Krishna Prakash, additional commissioner of police, South region.u00a0