The Mumbai crime branch has arrested a senior section engineer of Western Railways (WR) for allegedly duping a trader to the tune of Rs 2.73 crore. The crime branch has already arrested four accused in the case. According to the crime branch officer, the engineer identified as Anilkumar Ahirwar, 52, lured the businessman into a trap by promising him to allot lucrative railway tender.
According to the police, the trader undertakes civic contracts. In 2018, he met earlier arrested accused Subhash Solanki and became close to him, Solanki then introduced him to others including Ahirwar.
As per his complaint, the accused assured him to give a contract of supplying hose pipes to railways, the hose pipes are used to link railway carriages, in return of favouring him the accused demanded commission. Following the deal, the accused gave him false purchase orders purportedly issued by the railways and its invoices and allegedly accepted Rs 1.44 crore from him.
After receiving the purchase order, the trader placed an order for hose pipes, interestingly the suppliers were also part of the con. The accused then made the trader pay a further commission of Rs 72 lakh claiming a fresh tender had been issued.
The trader then waited for several months for Railways to sanction money to him. However, he did not receive anything. When he checked with the railway authorities, they told him that the documents and seal were forged.
The trader asked them to return his money but the accused kept making excuses. The accused also threatened him to implicate him in criminal offences and filed false complaints at Bhandup police station and at Andheri court, added the officer.
“During our investigation, it was revealed that the engineer who works in the tender department was well aware of the tender process and was a mastermind of the gang. Once his involvement was established, our team nabbed him from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh,” said Sunil Mane, senior inspector of crime branch unit 11.
