3 minutes of readingBombayUpdated: January 19, 2026 21:21 IST
A gang of four men, including two who posed as police officers, were arrested on Sunday for allegedly snatching a bag containing Rs 13 lakh from a 58-year-old retired school teacher in Wadala on January 17. They were sent to police custody till Tuesday.
The accused were captured after the victim’s accomplices chased his car and alerted the patrolling police, who intercepted the vehicle and recovered the amount.
Wadala police arrested 46-year-old Nisar Sheikh, 59-year-old Sanjay Kumar Dubey, 32-year-old Pravin Pandey and Alwin and registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for theft, cheating and impersonation. Police also seized the vehicle used in the crime.
According to the police, the complainant Anita Miranda, a retired teacher who now works as a private teacher in Dongri, lives in Vasai with her husband.
On Sunday, around 5 pm, he visited Wadala in search of flats to buy with a neighbor and his wife. He had cash to pay in advance.
Police said one of Miranda’s acquaintances informed her that a man named Alwin would meet her in Wadala to show her the flat.
She reached the area around 4:30 pm, where Alwin and his partner Nisar Ahmed alias Salim Sawan Sheikh met her and took the group to a construction site opposite the Lodha Tower.
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A few moments later, two people arrived in a white Ertiga car, supposedly police officers, forcibly snatched a bag from Nisar, forced him to sit in the vehicle and sped away, a police officer said.
Miranda, his neighbor and his wife immediately pursued the Ertiga and managed to intercept it near KD junction at Govandi. Police personnel from Deonar police station, who were patrolling, noticed a fight and rushed to nab the accused.
During investigation, the police found that the accused were using an Ertiga with a fake number plate.
The accused were initially shifted to Deonar police station and later handed over to Wadala TT police, under whose jurisdiction the crime was committed.
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During interrogation, the police established Alwin’s role in the crime and also arrested him.
The accused posed as police personnel and tried to flee with the cash. But timely chase by the complainant’s colleagues and alert police patrols managed to nab the culprits, according to a senior official of Wadala TT police station.
Police said further investigations are underway to locate the owner of the car and check if the gang was involved in similar crimes.