Mumbai: The abduction and a robbery complaint of a vice-president of an event organising company turned out to be a hoax -- an idea lifted straight from the ‘Crime Patrol’ serial.
As the complaint was established to be false, the police has asked the court to register an offence for misleading it against the company executive Ashish Choksi.
52-year-old Choksi had alleged that on August 2 he was abducted by three men while travelling in an auto to Powai from Aarey Colony. As per his complaint, near Unit 5 area, his auto was stopped by a speeding car.
Three men stepped out and abducted him. He was later allegedly assaulted in the car and dumped near Versova Khadi Bridge on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway.
Choksi further claimed that the assailants took Rs 40,000, his gold ring of 5 gram and an expensive watch. After this incident, Choksi approached the Aarey police station and registered a first information report against 3 unknown assailants.
During the investigation, crime branch’s unit 12 found discrepancies in Choksi’s version. A Close Circuit Television footage of the area on Ghodbandar road where Choksi allegedly alighted, showed him alighting from an auto rickshaw on his own.
The Crime Branch later traced the auto driver and when asked about the alleged incident, the driver identified Choksi and negated the story of abduction and robbery.
When Crime Branch officials confronted Choksi, he broke down and confessed to lodging a false complaint. He further said the idea came from a ‘Crime Patrol’ episode. Following the confession, the crime branch handed him over to the Aarey police station for further investigation.
"We have recorded Choksi's statement in which he confessed to filing a false complaint. Now we will submit the statement to the court and seek permission to register a FIR for misleading the police," said an officer from the Aarey police station.
Why all the drama
According to the crime branch, Choksi handles his company's day-to-day business. He places orders with contractors and makes payments as well; he is the link between the company and the management.
According to Choksi, the company had not paid the contractors’ dues for some time and they were harassing him. His plan was to spook the management into clearing the pending dues of contractors, so that he could get much needed respite.
By Sachin Gaad
