2 convicted for robbing forex office in Mumbai

A special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Monday convicted two men accused of stealing about Rs7 lakh from a foreign exchange in Oshiwara in 2006.
MCOCA judge MR Puranik sentenced Rahim Raheez Khan and Balbir Singh Rawat to five years and seven years in jail, respectively. Two other accused were acquitted in the case. All the accused were acquitted of the MCOCA charges.

As per the prosecution, six people stormed into Garda Global Moneychangers Private Limited in Oshiwara with guns and choppers and robbed the exchange of Indian currency worth over Rs7 lakh.

The police first arrested five accused, including Deepak Singh, against whom some other similar cases of robbery were pending. Later, the accused were booked under MCOCA. One accused, Iqbal Qasam Pathan, absconded while he was on bail.

The police said they had recovered Rs25,000 from Singh and Khan, besides a mobile phone from Rawat. The cellphone belonged to the complainant, Harshad Soni, the proprietor of the foreign exchange firm, a police officer said.
Special public prosecutor, Dileep Shah examined 10 witnesses including Soni and two other eyewitnesses.

“The depositions were not found to be reliable. The roles attributed to the accused in the charge sheet and the test identification parade changed in the depositions in court,” said defence advocate Sameer Pradhan.

During the pendency of the case, Khan, through his lawyer, Majeed Memon sought the alleged stolen property recovered from him. The court had rejected the plea.