Thane: The Thane anti-extortion cell arrested 10 people for making bogus licence books worth Rs800 each to transport sand in Vasai to Kalwa. According to the police, they received a tip-off on July 11 that a man with fake printed revenue stamp receipt books would come to Kalwa.
The police informed tehsildar Mukesh Patil, and a trap was laid near Kalwa. The police arrested Vicky Vibhishan Mali(25). When searched, the team found two fake receipt books.
Police said the fake books had 80 pages of Rs800 each receipt. The receipt is used for a licence when any sand and other quarry material is transported from one place to the other by vehicles. It is a way of earning money illegally, but the government loses a huge revenue.
Mukesh Patil, the tehsildar filed a cheating case against the accused at the Kalwa police station. During the course of interrogation, Mali revealed the name of his associates involved in the crime. All the accused were arrested later.
The arrested accused persons have been identified as Samadi Khan (35), Padmakar Rane (29), Shaji Punnan (45), Srvind Pevekar (30), Prashant Mahatre (33), Dhansukh Sutar (31), Umesh Yadav, Raju Pawar (30) and Ravi Jaiswar (40). They are residents of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Bhiwandi and Palghar districts of the state.
Talking to reporters, Vikas Godke, a police inspector of the Anti-Extortion Cell said, “We seized 156 receipt books. It could have cost government Rs1.28 crore.
A pen drive, mobile phone and a computer were also recoevered. They used to involved in the scam for the several months. More people are expected to be involved in the case. Further investigations to nab other accused are on.”
