Mumbai: Four men were arrested by the police on Saturday for allegedly robbing drivers on the Western Express Highway (WEH) by overtaking them and picking up fake road-rage instances.
According to the police officers, they had on May 25 received a complaint from a private company driver that four people travelling in a cab had overtaken him when he was on the southbound road. The driver who was travelling alone, told the police, that at 10.30 pm when he noticed the vehicle following him, he let it pass but instead of speeding away, the complainant said that the car intercepted him and four men hurling abuse barged out of the vehicle.
The police said that the men started fighting with him claiming that he had cut them off. The men, identified as Bhavin Swami (29), Sarfaraz alias Prince Shaikh (26), Manish Kumar Gopal Turi (28) and Ankit Patel (22), then threatened the complainant and snatched his mobile phone and gold chain worth ₹2 lakh.
Subsequently, the complainant approached the Kasturba Marg police and registered an FIR against the four men.
The police officers then scanned the CCTV on the WEH. On investigation, the police learnt that there were several cases registered against the four accused for theft and possession and consumption of drugs under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The police officers then arrested Swami, who was driving the app-based aggregator cab. Through Swami, the police arrested the other three accused.
“We have arrested the four men and are looking for others who were robbed by the gang. We request people if they are driving alone on the highway and feel that they are being followed, they should approach the police,” said Anil Awhad, senior police inspector of Kasturba Marg police station.