Mumbai: Poser cop arrested red-handed

The Vile Parle police have arrested conmen who would pose as policemen and rob elderly women in the western suburbs under the pretext of nakabandi.

The main accused has been identified as Ali Jafree, 38. According to the police, Jafree along with his accomplices would pose as policemen and stop people from travelling on the road and due to police nakabandi. Thinking them to be genuine police, the people would stop and follow him when Jafree would rob their money and valuables from them. On Monday night, the accused was arrested by the police red-handed while he was attempting to rob a woman with her jewellery worth Rs 2 lakh in Andheri. "Jafree is a history-sheeter and has three cases registered against him," said a police officer from Vile Parle police,

Explaining their modus operandi, a police officer said, "The accused would target senior citizen women and stop them saying our senior inspector wants to speak with you. After going with them, the 'officer' would scold the victims for wearing costly jewellery and somehow take jewellery from them which they would take away. They would write down names of the victim and would warn them that you should not wear such costly ornaments and would tell the victim to come to the police station to collect it,"

"It is a gang of 4-5 persons from Mumbra and they have been accused in other cases registered in the past. We are on the lookout for others," he added.