Panvel cops go undercover as adivasis to crack robberies on Mumbai-Pune E-way

Navi Mumbai: On the night of September 9, a tempo driver from Madhya Pradesh plying on Mumbai-Pune Expressway, stopped his vehicle to attend a nature’s call. As many as eight persons, hiding in the bushes, sprung forward and assaulted the driver and robbed him of ₹23,000 cash and two mobile handsets worth ₹5,000 each.
This was not a one-off case, the Panvel Taluka police said in just a few months’ time, seven such incidents were reported on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway stretch. In order to put an end to these crimes, the cops went undercover as ‘adivasis’ for two days and arrested five of the eight gang members involved in the crime. They also launched a manhunt to trace three of their accomplices.
All the accused, the police said, worked as carpenters and labourers in the morning and moonlighted as robbers. The five are identified as Rohan alia Guddu Naik, 24, Rohidas Pawar, 23, Atesh Waghmare, 26, Manish Waghmare, 35 and Shankar Waghmare, 18.
Challenging probe
The tempo driver, identified as Pradesh Gendlal Ramgarib Patel, was robbed of his belongings on September 9. Initially, the case was registered under section 309 (4) – robbery with extortion and 309 (6) – robbery with 10 years imprisonment. Following the investigation and nabbing of the accused further section 310 (2) – dacoity was included. “The investigation was challenging in the absence of any eyewitnesses or even CCTV footage. However, the truck driver gave us crucial details such as age and features of the men and we shared them with our informers,” said Anil Patil, senior police inspector.
Going undercover
The police were informed through the informers that one of the accused Rohidas Pawar was living in the village of Khalapur. “We verified all the details and dressed up as the locals. We all went shirtless, donned half pants, walked barefoot and ensured that we remained unshaven as well as tied scarfs on the head to blend with the locals. A car was stationed at the outskirts of the village and at a time three people would keep tracking the movements of the accused,” said one of the investigating officers.
In two days, the undercover cops observed that the accused met for night meetings to hatch robbery plans. Once the identity was ascertained the cops went and interacted with the accused. On the second day of tracking the accused, one of the undercover cops approached an accused on the pretext of consuming alcohol and between talks sought for his contact number. “The number provided by the accused was matched with our data and that led to the arrest,” adds the officer.
With the arrest of Rohidas, the remaining details of the accused were unearthed and four were nabbed from Nimbodewadi village in Khalapur. One of the accused mobile locations showed his presence at the spot where the truck driver was assaulted.
Of the eight accused, police learnt that Guddu Naik is a history-sheeter with at least three cases of dacoity registered in Khalapur. The accused has been given police custody till September 20.