Nine persons have been arrested by Vile Parle police for allegedly robbing Rs 12 crore from two persons staying in a hotel in the western suburbs in a crime with an alleged hawala angle to it.
The police said that the complainant in the case is a labour contractor named Anand Ingale, who provides contract workers to private companies. He is also involved in social work, the police added.
According to the FIR, Ingale told the police that two persons who had come from outside Mumbai had been robbed of Rs 12 crore that they were trying to transfer outside the country through illegal means.
“The two allegedly wanted to send their unaccounted cash to Canada through hawala channels regarding which there was a meeting going on in the room at the hotel. The meeting was between the two persons who wanted to send their money to Canada and a set of people who allegedly promised them help in sending their money,” said an officer.
During the meeting, a second group got information that the two persons had Rs 12 crore unaccounted cash, and they barged into the room under the pretext of conducting a raid, the police said.
The men who barged in posed as police and claimed they wanted to conduct an inquiry against them for carrying unaccounted cash. “The two parties reached an agreement in the room. The two parties included the men who barged into the room posing as cops and the people who promised help in sending the money to Canada through hawala channels,” said an officer, adding that they then escaped from the hotel with the cash, asking the two to come to the police station for further inquiry.
According to the police, the incident took place at around 4 pm on Wednesday. However the case was registered only on Friday after the police conducted a preliminary investigation into the complaint made by Ingale. Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone 8) Manjunath Singhe said, “We arrested nine people on Saturday. They were apprehended from Mumbai itself.”
But he refused to divulge further details in the case claiming that they are yet to recover the money that was stolen from the two persons.
