Police officer turns conman

Constable Ankush Rawale (33), who has been arrested for duping several banks and insurance companies by falsely claiming insurances and buying new cars with the money, had got the idea after someone playfully suggested that he exploit his knowledge of police department to evade cops. Emboldened by his initial successes, the cop went on a conning spree, filing FIRs about his cars being stolen in various parts of the state and then claiming insurance against them.

According to an officer from unit 10 of the crime branch in Andheri, Rawale had planned to execute many such cons in the future and had no plans to stop. “Someone he had met during his stint with the Government Railway Police (GRP), made a passing mention about how cops can evade investigations since they know how the police probe cases. He seems to have taken the suggestion seriously and began fooling banks and insurance companies,” said the officer. The most recent FIR filed by him was at Nirmal Nagar police station where he had reported his Mahindra Scorpio being stolen. He had also reported thefts of a Mahindra Xylo, a Maruti Suzuki Swift and a Tata Indica at Satara district, Virar and Vartak Nagar police station in Thane city.

The police said it first sniffed a possible scam when they learnt about a black Scorpio with tinted black windows, which was often spotted sporting a placard with ‘police’ written on it. “We then procured the car’s engine and chassis numbers from an informer posing as a mechanic and checked it against RTO records but learnt that there was a different vehicle registration number registered against them,” said the officer. Gathering more evidence and getting details from banks and insurance companies, the police finally held Rawale who confessed to the crime.

After buying a car on a bank loan, Rawale first requested two more sets of keys from the car company and then hid the car somewhere before heading to police station to report a theft.