A 28-year-old garment businessman from Maharashtra’s Thane district was allegedly duped of cash and foreign currency worth Rs 1.65 lakh by four persons posing as Income Tax officials while he was on way to the Mumbai airport for a trip to Dubai, police said. The incident took place after the victim left from Ulhasnagar area in Thane by a cab to reach the airport for a sight-seeing visit to Dubai, an official from Kalwa police station said.
As his cab reached near Kharigaon toll naka in Kalwa area, two motorcycle-borne persons came from behind and intercepted the cab. They claimed to be I-T officials and told the man they had received a tip-off that he was illegally carrying US dollars, the official said. When the victim got down from the cab to talk to the two persons, they allegedly snatched away 7,000 Dirhams and other cash worth Rs 1.65 lakh from his pocket while pretending to question him, he said. In the meantime, two other persons, posing as associates of the accused, arrived there in a car and the cash and the foreign currency were handed over to them.
The four persons then fled in the car and on the motorbike, the official said. The businessman had to call off his trip. He filed a police complaint against the four persons, including one whom he identified as a resident of Ulhasnagar, the official said. Based on the complaint, a case was registered against four persons, including the one identified, under Indian Penal Code sections 170 (personating a public servant), 420 (cheating) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), he said. A probe was on into the case, the police added.