Fake ED officers ‘raid’ bullion trader’s office, steal 3kg gold, Rs 25 lakh cash; 3 held in Mumbai – Times of India

MUMBAI: LT Marg police on Tuesday arrested three fake Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers, including a woman, who along with three others allegedly “raided” the office of a bullion trader in Zaveri Bazar, assaulted four of his employees, handcuffing two of them, and then “seized” Rs 25 lakh in cash and 3kg gold from the premises.
DCP Abhinav Deshmukh told mediapersons on Tuesday that they have arrested Dongri’s Fazal Siddique Gilitwala (50) and Malad Malwani’s Razi Mohammed Rafique alias Sameer (37).
“The two were produced before a court which remanded them in police custody for seven days. We have also detained a woman, Vishakha Mudhule, a homemaker, from Khed (Ratnagiri), who pretended to be an ED officer too,” said Deshmukh. Mudhule was brought to Mumbai on Tuesday evening. She will be produced before a court on Wednesday.
In the past, Gilitwala had been booked under IPC Section 452 for house trespass after preparation for hurt with Mumbra police station while Mudhule has a previous case of cheque-bouncing against her. The woman was brought in to give an impression that it was an authentic ED team.
“Our teams nabbed the two from Mumbai within 24 hours of the crime and recovered 2.5kg gold and Rs 15 lakh from them,” added Deshmukh.
The crime was carried out on Monday afternoon at VBL Bullion’s fifth-floor office in a Zaveri Bazar building. “Posing as ED officers, four accused entered the office during the lunch hour and asked the employees for the proprietor, Virat. They told the office employees they would check all his records,” said Deshmukh. Virat was in Rajasthan on Monday.
They frisked the employees and took their mobile phones. They then snatched a cupboard’s keys from an employee, opened it and took three bags containing Rs 25 lakh. They snatched gold bars from another employee, Dashrath Mali. When he asked to see their identity cards, they hit him and threatened to kill him. They beat up four employees.
The accused took Mali and another employee in handcuffs to the trader’s second office in the vicinity where the woman and her aide had “detained” its manager. She asked her aide to remove the handcuffs and then all the accused left.
Initially, the victims thought it was a genuine raid. However, when some other businessmen and family members of the proprietor learnt of it, they suspected something was amiss and advised informing the police. The proprietor called up L T Marg police station and an FIR was registered.
“Six teams were formed to nab the accused. Some travelled by car. It belongs to one of the accused,” said Deshmukh.
Police teams led by ACP Jyotsana Rasam, SPI Jyoti Desai and detection officer Sushilkumar Vanjari began analysing the CCTV footage and collecting human intelligence. They saw some of the accused on CCTV. Their images were circulated among the detection teams and informants. Deshmukh said, “The accused met one another two to three months ago.” Police are hunting for three other accused.