Mumbai: The Mumbai crime branch arrested two persons, who kidnapped a state transport driver and robbed him later posing as policemen. The accused persons approached the victim stating he had stolen a phone from one of them and intimidated him to sit in the car to come to Ghatkopar police station. They, however, kidnapped him and robbed his gold chain and made withdrawals using his ATM card.

A team of unit VII of crime branch apprehended the accused, identified as Balu Pote (37) and Aadesh Tatkare alias Sakharam (35) on Monday.

The police said that on October 18, when the victim was operating his mobile phone after lunch, the accused persons approached him. “They stated that he had stolen phone from one of them and that he was needed to come to the Ghatkopar police station. When he refused to do so, they claimed to be policemen and asked him to sit inside the car,” said a crime branch officer.

The accused overpowered him inside the car and then forcefully took the 10 gram gold chain, which he was wearing. They then took away his ATM card and procured the pin number forcefully and withdrew money. They went to an unmanned kiosk where they covered their faces with cloth and made the fraudulent transaction.

The officials tracked down the duo at Parksite in Vikhroli and were arrested by the police. The officials scanned the CCTV footage and with the help of the registration number of the accused’s vehicle, tracked the car and later the duo.

The officials are now trying to track down other persons of the gang. A case of robbery, kidnapping, intimidation and acts of common intention was filed as per the Indian Penal Code and the acc-used have been remanded to police custody.