2 Maha cops held by ACB while on hunt for accused in Nigerian email fraud

The Maharashtra and Rajasthan police are in a showdown over the arrest of two Crime Branch cops from the Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar MBVV police commissionerate after the arrest of a wanted accused in Udaipur The Crime Branch says their personnel were falsely implicated and ACB officers did not follow SOPs before placing them under arrest on Saturday in UdaipurA Senior AntiCorruption Bureau ACB officer of Rajasthan police told midday that the two crime branch personnel from MBVV policemdashAPI Gyaneshwar Jagtap and head constable Prashant Patilmdashwere arrested with R497 lakh cash in their possession However their crime branch boss said their policemen who had gone to arrest a cheater Deepak Sethia have been falsely implicatedldquoWhile investigating a fraud case involving a Nigerian registered at Arnala police station in 2018 we arrested a few accused During interrogation they named Deepak Sethia who was the mastermind in the Nigerian fraud case Sethia is a local journalist in Udaipur where our team of three including an API and two constables arrested himrdquo said DCP Crime Dr Mahesh PatilRs 497 lakh cash was found in the bag File picldquoAfter Sethia was placed under arrest at his house he started faking health issues like high blood and called around sixtoseven journalist friends to his house Later the officer Jagtap and constable Patil took Sethia in a hired vehicle Sethiarsquos friend also sat in the same carrdquo DCP Dr Patil saidldquoThe other constable sat in another car brought by Sethiarsquos journalist friends Both the cars were headed to the nearest police station to apprise local cops of his arrest when a van intercepted themrdquo DCP Dr Patil said The other constable was not arrestedAnother crime branch officer told midday that before getting ready to sit in the car Sethia had told the crime branch personnel that he wanted to take some clothes with him The officer said Sethia got into the car with a bag which had his clothes The money was found in this bag with the clothes which was kept under the driverrsquos seatNot shown documentsrsquoldquoThe ACB claims to have recovered Rs 497 lakh but they are not showing us any documents Our team arrested Sethia at 130pm and ACB intercepted their vehicle and arrested them at 4pm It is more than 24hrs since then but they have not registered an FIR Both the policemen were also produced before a local court without an FIRrdquo said the officerldquoThere was no pretrap panchnama no proof of voice recording to substantiate their claims that money was demanded no powder chemical was used in the currency to prove that money was given by Sethia to policemen after the latter demanded it We are really surprised at how the ACB function here No SOP was followed before arresting our menrdquo added the officerldquoAbove all the accused Sethia who our team arrested after a massive search was set free by ACB officers There were more than half dozen media persons present at Sethiarsquos house when he was nabbed by our team Which policemen will dare to demand and accept money in the presence of the mediardquo wondered the crime branch officerldquoNo FIR has been registered even after 24 hours The cops are saying they are busy in panchanama But the ACB officers were in a hurry to address the media The ACB officers have enough time to address media but not to register an FIRrdquo the officer addedlsquoMaha cops wanted a dealrsquomidday spoke to the ACB team which intercepted crime branch team ldquoThe Maharashtra crime branch team had not informed the local police station before arresting Sethia in Udaipur He was picked up in the morning and they were roaming with him in the vehicle Sethia was told by the crime branch personnel that they wonrsquot arrest him if he coughs up R10 lakhrdquo said Inspector Ratan Singh Udaipur ACBldquoSethia tried to negotiate the deal and agreed to pay R5 lakh But the crime branch officers were adamant They told him to pay Rs 5 lakh here and then pay the remaining amount in Mumbai When Sethia learnt that they were taking him to Maharashtra despite paying them Rs 5 lakh information was passed onto our Jaipur unit that a team from Maharashtra police was going away with a cash of R5 lakhrdquo Singh told middayldquoWe recovered R497 lakh cash from the car in which crime branch officers were travelling with Sethia After registering zero FIR we have forwarded the case to Jaipur for further investigationrdquo Singh saidAsked why Sethia was set free Singh said ldquoSince there was no document with the crime branch to prove that Sethia was an accused we set him free He is not a wanted criminal in any of our cases He and his friend are witnesses in this caserdquo said SinghWhen asked why the SOP was not followed before conducting raid Singh said ldquoWe have followed all the legal procedures Since it was important to conduct the raid immediately so we did not get time to have voice recording to prove that crime branch is demanding moneyrdquoAdditional SP ACB Udaipur Umesh Ojha said ldquoThe process to register an FIR is underway The money was kept in a bag along with some clothes and it was in the possession of the crime branch teamrdquoldquoThe crime branch says that Sethia is wanted in a case registered with them but when we checked their case files his name was not there Even if Sethia was named by an accused during interrogation the crime branch should have informed a local police station before detaining him from his house They should have gone to local court for his Sethia transit warrantrdquo Ojha saidlsquoWe followed SOPsrsquoAsked if SOPs were followed before intercepting the crime branch personnel Ojha said ldquoWhen we get any credible information we inform our seniors to seek their permission and always take two independent government witnesses with our team In a trap case there have to be some recordings to verify and establish the demand But in this situation a man was taken into custody and money demanded from him He was asked to call his friend or relatives to arrange money then and there This was the intelligence which we got so we had to intercept themrdquoAsked what if the crime branch personnel argue in the court that the cash was falsely planted by ACB officers Ojha said ldquoLet them prove it The moment we got the information our team set into motion along with two government officers who act as independent witnesses So there is no question of planting anythingrdquoldquoWhy were they in possession of this much money Was it given officially for travelling and other expenses by the department They are free to prove it in court These crime branch officers have accepted that the cash belongs to them and there is a full memo which is prepared of the action taken of this whole process and they have signed itrdquo Ojha addedRs 497 lakhAmount of cash crime branch personnel were found withRs 10lakhAmount crime branch allegedly asked Sethia for