Mumbai Crime: Police informer arrested for duping people with fake raids

The most soughtafter informer of now retired and jailed encounter specialists had been running multiple cons on the side for years while working for a local politician However his crimes were unearthed only recently when one of his victims filed a complaint Vile Parle police have arrested informer Sanjay Sawant while politician Laxman Chikkaya Poojari is absconding They looted their victims with fake raids said officersAlong with Sawant Vile Parle police have arrested Siddharth Nage an accomplice of Poojari Officers told midday that Poojari and others were involved in multiple such frauds across Maharashtra and HyderabadLocal politician Laxman Chikkaya Poojari the main accusedPoojari a Vakola resident had floated a party with a coconut as its symbol and had even contested the Corporator election in 2019 from Kalina Santacruz East The BKC police had earlier filed a case against him involving the same modus operandiMumbai Crime Police informer arrested for scamming people with fake raidsThe complainant Bharat Harshi Dedhia 69 runs Tarun Maharashtra Society Kirana Shop at Laxmanrao Yadav Mandai in Kurla West He lost 500 gms of gold biscuits in the fake raid conducted by Poojari and his co in 2016 Dedhia needed money after demonetisation in 2016 and wanted to sell the gold biscuitsThe candidacy card of Laxman PoojarildquoAround 45 years ago my father gifted me five gold biscuits of 100 grams each as a wedding gift After demonetisation the rate of one gold biscuit was s Rs 330 lakh in the market Then I came across Siddharth Nage and he told me that he can get Rs 360 lakh for a piece I was getting Rs 30000 extra so I decided to sell them Poojari and Nage took me to a jewellery shop in Vile Parle East and then went inside in a lane I had given them all the gold biscuits They returned after 1520 minutes and told me that the jeweller was ready to purchase themldquoSuddenly a kaalipeeli taxi with three people inside stopped by us They told us they were police and had been looking for Poojari for many years They seized all my gold biscuits claiming they were stolen and left Later Sawant told me that the police will register a case against me and if I wanted to get out of this situation I would have to pay Rs 45 lakh I somehow managed to arrange Rs 45 lakh and gave it to themrdquo Dedhia saidldquoI didnrsquot go to the police then out of fear of arrestrdquo he added Last month he met social worker Shivajirao Mane and narrated the entire incident to him ldquoHe told me that I was duped and that they were criminals He took me to Mantralaya and we met Home Minister Dilip WalsePatil and submitted all the evidencerdquoThe FIR was registered after WalsePatil ordered an FIR in the matter Speaking with midday Mane said ldquoWhen Dedhia met me I explained to him that he was a victim and not an accused and they had duped him We caught hold of Sawant first and found the photos of the other accused and they were identified Poojari is involved in many such cases The victims donrsquot want to come forward to file a complaint In Dharavi too Poojari threatened two people and looted them of lakhs of rupees at gunpoint He is a habitual criminal and uses police informers in fake raids The informers pretend to rescue the victims and then pressurise them to not file a complaintrdquoThe investigating officer in the case SubInspector Prakash Zende of Vile Parle police station said ldquoWe have arrested Sawant alias Bhau and Nage but main accused Poojari is absconding We have registered the case under Sections 120B punishment of criminal conspiracy 170 personating a public servant 34 acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention 406 punishment for criminal breach of trust 420 cheating of the IPCrdquo2016Year the accused duped the complainant