The Narpoli police in Bhiwandi have registered a case against two people for narrating a false story of robbery to avoid making payment to a creditor.

The police said Vipin Tiwari, 29, a resident of Badlapur approached the Narpoli police station at 11 pm on October 13 and said that he and his business partner Ashish Tiwari, 30, were returning home after collecting a trading amount from Badlapur, Kalyan and Thane. They said when they were passing Kamatghar in Bhiwandi on the afternoon of October 13, four people came on two motorcycles, threatened them with a sharp weapon and took away their mobile phones and Rs 78 lakh in cash.

The police said Vipin Tiwari approached the police station along with the company owner Devraj Viviya, 45, to whom he owed Rs 20 lakh. “We doubted him as Ashish Tiwari, his business partner, hadn’t accompanied him to lodge the complaint,” a police officer said. He said the CCTV footage from the scene showed no such incident. When interrogated, he revealed that a false story had been cooked up to avoid making the payment to Viviya.

The police have registered a case under section 182 (false information, with intent to cause a public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person) of the Indian Penal Code.