In a case of mistaken identity, a 76-year-old man was allegedly picked up by the Bhoiwada police, and released only after being forced to hand out a bribe of Rs39,000.
In a case of mistaken identity, a 76-year-old man was allegedly picked up by the Bhoiwada police, and released only after being forced to hand out a bribe of Rs39,000.
The incident took place on November 17, when a man was duped of Rs 9,000 by a handicapped senior citizen at the Bank of India branch, Parel.
Shantaram Gawde, a resident of Lalbaug, was caught by the bank officials along with the person who was duped. On November 25, when Shantaram went to the bank for passbook-related work, he was stopped by the bank officials who then called the deceived man to identify him.
Shantaram was taken to Bhoiwada police station and was shown the CCTV footage. In the footage, the culprit resembled Shantaram a great deal. Also, on the day of the crime, Shantaram had gone to the bank, but not to the ground floor where the con took place.
“My father had gone at around 12pm to the bank, but to the first floor. The conman looked like my father; he was also a senior citizen and had a limp, like my dad,” said Shantaram’s son, Jeetu.
Initially, when Shantaram was made to see the footage, he accepted that the person in the clipping was him, but he hadn’t swindled anybody. “My father is 76 years old, and he got confused by looking at the footage. When he was asked to pay Rs 9,000 to the complainant and Rs30, 000 to the police to get away, he panicked,” said Jeetu.
The police allegedly threatened Shantaram and Jeetu, and said they would book the former for robbery if they didn’t pay the bribe. To get his father out of the situation, Jeetu paid the police Rs30,000, and Rs 9,000 to the complainant.
“I have written to senior police officers to take action against Bhoiwada police,” said Jeetu.
When Jeetu asked the cops for the CCTV footage, he was turned down. Afterwards he obtained the footage from the bank, and realised that the true culprit had been limping on his left side. Shantaram, evidently, has a problem in his right leg. “The culprit was pretending to limp,” said Jeetu.
The Gawdes have blamed police inspector Asharam Pathare of the Bhoiwada police station, who allegedly took the money.
When the police was approached to get their version, they said they had no idea about the incident.
“I have not received any complaint from any Shantaram, and we didn’t book him for anything. If they approach me with their problem, I will take appropriate action. Our officer Pathare is on leave right now,” said senior police inspector, Vikram Patil.
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