Mumbai: : The Anti-Extortion Cell of the Crime Branch arrested a man for posing as a police inspector from Pune and threatening and attempting to extort from a jeweller in Sion. The accused is 27-year-old Nishant alias Sunny alias Rahul Pravin Parmar, a resident of Dahisar.
The complainant in this case was approached by two police constables from the Sion police station on May 17, 2014 at his shop, Kothari jewellers. He was asked to speak with police inspector Nalawde from the Shivaji Nagar police station in Pune. When the complainant did so, he was told by PI Nalawde that his shop has gold jewellery of 90 grams including two chains, two bracelets, two bangles and two rings which are stolen property. The PI asked the jeweller to hand over the said stolen jewellery or else he would implicate him in cases and shoot him. The jeweller refused to meet his demands and instead recorded the call and registered a complaint with the police. During investigation, it was learnt that no PI by the name Nalawde exists at the said police station in Pune.
The Crime Branch meanwhile, was doing a parallel investigation in the case of a former Cabinet Minister in Nagpur having received a call from a Mumbai-based number where the caller identified himself as a Senior PI from the Mumbai Crime Branch, threatened to arrest and abused the said minister. This incident had happened on July 13, after which the minister informed the Crime Branch.
During investigation, the Anti-Extortion Cell based on a tip-off from their sources laid a trap near Borivali railway station, east, and arrested Nishant on Thursday. The accused has been arrested previously by the police in cases of chain-snatching, mobile theft and cheating. He is a habitual offender who has threatened jewellers in the past too and extorted money from them. In these cases too, he would pose as a Sr PI from Pune or Mumbai Crime Branch. He has now been placed in custody until
July 27.
