Two arrested in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar for robbing youth on false ganja charge

The Crime Branch in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar has arrested two men who allegedly threatened, beat and robbed a young man near the Shahnurmiya Dargah by falsely claiming he sold ganja. The pair have since been handed over to Satara police for further investigation.

The arrested are Vishal Rohidas Jadhav, 22, a resident of Ramnagar near Kranti Chowk, and Hitesh Balanna Yadav, 21, who lives in Chausarnagar in Pratapnagar, Usmanpura.

The complainant is Narendra Ashok Bansode, who lives near Sutgirni Chowk. On the evening of November 5, he parked his two-wheeler in the dargah area to relieve himself. According to the complaint, the two men turned up at that moment, accused him of peddling ganja and began hitting him.

They took his mobile phone and then struck him on the chest with a knuckle-duster, demanding the phone's password. Terrified, Bansode told them his PhonePe password. The accused moved Rs 1,700 out of his account and ran off with the phone, which was worth Rs 10,000. A case was registered at Satara police station.

The money trail led police to the suspects. Because the amount had landed in the accused men's own account, the Crime Branch examined the transaction technically, traced both men and detained them. Goods worth Rs 20,000 in all were seized, among them two mobile phones tied to the offence. Both phones were recovered from Jadhav, and one of them is the complainant's stolen handset.

Police inquiry has found that Yadav is highly educated. Jadhav already has an assault case against him at Satara police station.

The operation was carried out under Police Commissioner Virendra Mishra, with Deputy Commissioner (Crime) in charge Sharmishtha Walawalkar and Assistant Commissioner Poonam Patil guiding it. The men were caught by a Crime Branch squad led by inspectors Gajanan Kalyankar and Ashok Bhandare. It also included assistant inspector Prashant Gambhirrao and constables Santosh Pardhe, Deepak Shinde, Manoj Vikhankar and Vijay Nikam.