09 July,2012 06:43 AM IST | | Saurabh Vaktania
Police arrested an employee from a private company yesterday who had pretended to be a victim in a staged robbery, in which three men made away with Rs 30 lakh and his boss's car keys.
Sainath Disturghe who works as a supervisor is facing charges for allegedly stealing from the company and falsely reporting a robbery to cover it up. The 25-year-old employee was asked by the company's boss to collect money from a company in Kurla. He claimed that on his way back he was robbed and physically assaulted by three people at Aarey Colony, Goregaon (East). However, when the police started investigating the matter, he confided in his boss, who reported it to the police.
On July 6, Sainath, who has been working for the Goregaon-based company for only a few months, was asked by his boss to collect Rs 30 lakh, and placing his trust in him also gave him his Chevrolet to collect the money. Sainath left in the afternoon.
According to cops from Aarey police station, after collecting the money, Sainath returned back to the office bruised and bloodied, and reported to his boss that at an isolated place on Aarey Road, an Innova overtook him and stopped in front of his car. Three people covered with masks, armed with choppers and knives, started assaulting him, and snatched the bag containing the money and car keys. He told his boss that he then took a rickshaw back to the office. After hearing the incident, the boss and Sainath proceeded to the police station where they lodged a complaint. Sainath who had received severe head injuries, and was also bleeding profusely from his shoulders was rushed to a hospital for medical attention, and was released after a few hours.
Considering the serious nature of the crime, Crime Branch officials started a parallel investigation in to the offence. Sainath was privy to investigations, as several police officers and officers from the Crime Branch had questioned him. Sensing trouble and that his staged robbery would be uncovered, he approached his boss the next day, and handed over the bag containing the money and car keys, and asked him to take the complaint back.
Amazed and shocked by the revelations, the boss called the police who started questioning Sainath, and in the course of interrogations, he broke down and admitted that he cooked up the robbery story.
"The accused has been arrested and has been remanded to police custody. There are two more people in the case, but are absconding," said a police officer from Aarey police station. The officer further stated that the two absconding accused have been identified and will be arrested soon. Their role was to hide the money and cause bodily harm to Sainath. u00a0