‘Cops’ rob jeweller of 13L; FIR against 5

Navi Mumbai: Kharghar police have registered a case against five men, including four who impersonated cops, for allegedly robbing a Mulund jeweller of Rs 13 lakh.
The incident took place on Wednesday when the jeweller Ravindra Chaudhary (50), his friend Sunil Ingale and employee Rathod were waiting near a hotel in Kharghar Sector 8 to finalise a gold biscuit sale.
On June 25, Ingale told Chaudhary that Raj Patel was offering a discount of Rs 5,000/gm on 200gm gold biscuits. The next day, Chaudhary, Ingale and Rathod drove in the jeweller’s car with Rs 13 lakh cash to Kharghar and met Patel. Soon after, four men arrived in an SUV and claimed they were cops. The complainant said they dragged Rathod into their SUV as he was carrying the bag of cash and drove along Kopri village road. They later dumped him on the road and fled with the cash. Patel left immediately. Senior inspector Rajiv Sejwal said Patel too has been named in the FIR. API Santosh Pilane said: “The SUV’s registration number was fake. We have sought CCTV footage of the area to track down the suspects.” — George Mendonca