Mumbai, Jan 10: Following an investigative report by The Free Press Journal, Ghoti police in Nashik rural registered an FIR late on Friday in connection with the alleged Rs 400-crore heist of demonetised Rs 2,000 notes and the alleged kidnapping of a complainant to recover the stolen cash. The complaint names a Gujarat-based hawala operator, two serving police personnel and a history-sheeter, though police said the allegations against the officers are yet to be verified. The case marks a significant escalation in claims linking black money to high-level political funding ahead of civic elections.
To investigate the case, the Nashik Superintendent of Police has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT). The team will be headed by the Additional Superintendent of Police (Rural) and will include officials from the Cyber Cell, the Local Crime Branch, the Economic Offences Wing (EoW), and the investigating officer of Ghoti Police Station.
According to sources, the cash was allegedly meant to be routed back to Maharashtra to fund election-related activities linked to a Thane-based politician, reportedly associated with a prominent builder whose business and political connections are said to have facilitated the operation. The consignment was dispatched on October 16 from an unidentified location near the Karnataka border in two containers bound for a Gujarat-based ashram, where the demonetised notes were to be converted into smaller legal denominations before being returned to Maharashtra for political manoeuvring. However, the consignment was allegedly stolen midway in a sensational heist at Chorla Ghat on the Maharashtra–Karnataka border.
The FIR identifies Thane-based builder as the alleged beneficiary of the demonetised currency, though he has not been named as an accused at this stage.
The complaint was filed by real estate agent Sandeep Datta Patil, who named Gujarat-based hawala operator Virat Gandhi as a key accused along with three others. Patil alleged that those involved in his kidnapping were, in fact, the perpetrators behind the Rs 400-crore heist. According to the FIR, Patil was abducted on October 22 last year on the alleged instructions of Gandhi by two police officials, one attached to the Railway Police and another to the Mumbai Police along with a history-sheeter linked to a kidnapping case.
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In his statement, Patil claimed that the police officer involved in his kidnapping later told him that a few days after the incident, the officer and a Thane-based builder realised that a cover operation had been staged by a Gujarat-linked hawala operator. He alleged that Gandhi and another accused, Naydu, had double-crossed others in the network and looted the container carrying demonetised currency worth Rs 400 crore during transit. To divert suspicion and shield other players, Gandhi allegedly orchestrated a plan to frame Patil as the mastermind behind the theft.
Patil further alleged that Gandhi misused his photograph and falsely projected him as “Bhau Patil”, portraying him as the individual who had siphoned off the cash. This fabricated identity, he claimed, was used to mislead the builder and the police officer into believing that Patil was in possession of the stolen money.
Acting on this belief, Patil alleged that two police officials and other accused abducted him on October 22 in an attempt to forcibly recover the money. The FIR states that Patil was threatened and intimidated during the abduction, despite the accused allegedly being aware that he had no access to the cash.
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