Fake cop extorts ₹40,000 from biker as fine for spitting on road

MUMBAI: A Bhandup man on Wednesday, allegedly posing as a narcotics officer, extorted ₹40,000 from a 59-year-old man on the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) as a fine for chewing tobacco and spitting on the road. After reviewing the CCTV footage, the police identified the accused as Ravi Pandey, 28, and arrested him on Thursday.

According to the police, the complainant, Vasant Mohite, resides in Lokmanya Nagar in Thane (West) with his wife and works in a private firm in the Mahalakshmi area in Mumbai. On Wednesday evening, while returning home from work, he stopped near the Airoli flyover on EEH to chew tobacco. He spat on the side of the road when the accused, Ravi Pandey, confronted him. 

Mohite told the police that the accused wore black boots, khaki trousers, blue shirt, and rode a bullet. He asked Mohite if he had spat there and then lied to him that he was a police officer of the narcotics department. Saying this, he snatched Mohite’s mobile phone, locked his bike, and confiscated the bike key.

Pandey forced Mohite to sit on his bullet and initially said they would be going to the Navghar Police Station, then said they would be going to the police headquarters. However, he stopped the bike on the highway near Kanjurmarg Police Station and asked Mohite to pay a fine of ₹68,000, said a police officer. Pandey rode the bike towards two ATM kiosks in Bhandup and forced Mohite to withdraw  ₹40,000, which was all he had in his bank accounts. Pandey then dropped Mohite back near his bike on the highway, returned his bike key and mobile phone, and fled with the cash. 

After returning home, Mohite narrated the incident to his wife, and they both approached the Navghar Police Station. A case was registered against an unknown person. After reviewing CCTV footage from the areas Pandey rode to, the police identified him from footage near one of the ATMs. “We are now checking his past criminal records,” said inspector Suresh Madane of the Navghar Police Station.