Two habitual offenders posing as police officers and abducting a worker before assaulting and extorting money from him have been arrested by the Sahakarnagar Police in Pune. The incident occurred on August 27, around 5:15am in front of Shankar Maharaj Math at Esha Lodge.
The arrested duo has been identified as Shrikant Laxman Doifode (39, resident of Chavan Nagar, Dhankawadi, and native of Shirur Ghat, Beed) and Neha alias Sheetal Dinesh Pawar (37, resident of Chavan Nagar, Dhankawadi). They were arrested on August 30. Police seized a car, three mobile phones, and other items worth ₹2.95 lakh from them, which were used in the crime.
According to the police, investigations revealed that Shrikant Doifode already has six criminal cases of cheating registered against him at Bharati Vidyapeeth and Bibwewadi police stations. On the day of the incident, the duo approached a lodge worker claiming to be police officers and said they wanted to check the lodge. After inspecting the register at the reception, they ordered the worker to accompany them to the police station. The suspects forced him into their car and drove towards Swargate. On the way, they assaulted him and made him transfer ₹6,000 via Google Pay before abandoning him near Swargate and fleeing.
During the investigation, police officers Chandrakant Jadhav and Sagar Sutkar received a tip-off confirming that Doifode and Pawar were involved. Both were tracked down and arrested.
Senior Police Inspector Vitthal Pawar, speaking to The Free Press Journal, said the accused Shrikant, is a habitual offender and has six cases of cheating registered at Bharati Vidyapeeth police station.
“We appeal to citizens that if anyone else has been cheated by Doifode, they should approach the Sahakarnagar Police Station. We will take action against him accordingly,” he added.
