Dreams crash for trio, land behind bars for robbing Rs 45 Lakh

The dreams of three Borivli men came crashing down after the Valiv police arrested them for looting a Gujarat businessman of Rs45 lakh. Thinking the cash was black money and that the victim would not approach the police, the trio carried out the robbery.

Surat businessman Abhishek Mantri, 22, was robbed of over Rs45 lakh near Vasai on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway around 2am on November 3.

Mantri took a flight from Hyderabad and landed at Mumbai on November 2, from where he headed for Surat with a friend by road. On the way, he splurged at Charwak Bar. Apparently, in a drunken state, he told the bar staffers about his car containing cash worth Rs45 lakh.

The accused, identified as Borivli residents Nilesh Shetty, 38, Javed Shaikh, 22, Sagir Khan, 24, allegedly followed his car. When they reached Vasai, they attacked Mantri and decamped with the bag of cash.

A Valiv police officer informed: "Shetty overheard the Mantri's conversation and hatched a plan with three people, who teamed up and looted the cash. The motive was to set up a business and clear some loans."

Narayan Patil, police inspector, Valiv police station, said: "After we were tipped off about the incident, we tracked and arrested the accused, who have been remanded to police custody by the Vasai court. We have seized the car and recovered cash worth Rs30,70,000. Since one of the accused is still absconding, we are investigating further."