Could suspended policemen — or even those serving in the force — possibly be involved in the spate of robberies in which criminals impersonating policemen have targeted citizens? These are the grave questions facing investigators, even as the number of such cases in the city is on the rise.
The suspects, posing as policemen, approach gullible citizens on roads and, after hoodwinking them, decamp with their valuables, including cash. Police officials admitted that such cases are on the rise in the city.
According to statistics available with the police, since January the city police recorded around 70 cases of fake policeman duping citizens. So far only 17 cases have been cracked.
On Thursday night, two unidentified men robbed a 70-year-old man to the tune of Rs22,500 by posing as policemen in Bharti Vidyapeeth area. Madhukar Jagannath Bhosale was returning home and, when he reached Adhinath Vihar Society, two unidentified men on a motorcycle identified themselves as policemen and told him they were searching for an absconding cloth trader.
They advised him to keep his costly gold ring in his pocket. While helping him to take off the gold ring from his finger, the duo replaced it with a fake one and decamped with the real one.
On Saturday, two similar incidents took place in Chatuhshrungi police station area. Hirabai Ganpat Tambe (59) encountered three men at her residence in Sutarwadi on Saturday morning who advised Tambe to keep her valuables in a bag. Later, they fled with the bag.
In another incident, a homemaker, Pramila Devidas Gunjal (35), was robbed in a similar manner by three men posing as policemen at Balaji Chowk on Sus Road in Pashan area. They fled with gold ornaments weighing 1 tola.
Sources in the crime branch of the city police admitted the department is probing whether a section of suspended police personnel are involved in the racket and rendering help to goons committing such crimes. "We are also investigating if some working policemen are passing on information to the suspects," a police official said.
Investigators said they had found that the fake policemen have appearance and features similar to those of men in the force. A police inspector attached to the city crime branch told DNA, "There is a great possibility of involvement of suspended policemen, or even those who are still working. We are probing that angle too."
He said the crime is committed in a professional manner and only those who know policing could act thus. Whenever the police lay a trap at a particular location, the fake cops target their victims at another spot in the city.
The police suspect their own men could be leaking out information. "There could be someone feeding information to the fake cops," said another police inspector of the city crime branch. Explaining the modus operandi of the suspects, he said, "We have observed that suspects come on motorcycles and target mostly senior citizens or women in isolated spots."
Another modus operandi used by criminals is to rob women, usually those walking alone. They tell them to take off their ornaments, saying chain snatchers are on the prowl and the police are hunting for them nearby. After the victims take off the ornaments, they snatch them and flee.
Three months ago, the city police had started an awareness drive with loudspeakers, requesting citizens not to fall prey to such tricks by fake policemen.
The Pune city police have appealed to citizens that whenever someone approaches them and claims to be a policeman, he should be asked for his identity card and, in case of doubt, they should immediately inform the Pune police control number.
