Mumbai: Four people arrested for planning to rob money from COVID-19 victim's bank account

The Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested four people for allegedly trying to rob money from the bank accounts of an 81-year-old man who died of COVID-19 last month, an official said on Monday.

According to Crime Branch Unit XI official, Shafique Shaikh is the accused who use to work with the 81-year-old man for the past 15 years. Shaikh planned to withdraw the victim's money from bank accounts and brought his friends Swapnil Vinod Oglekar, Pritesh Mandliya and Arshad Sayyed, all residents of Mira Road in neighbouring Thane district, to execute it.

"On Saturday, the Crime Branch got a tip-off about the plan, which involved transferring money to the tune of several crore rupees with the help of forged documents like Aadhaar card, as well as fake user IDs and passwords. A raid was conducted in a Dahisar slum and all four were held," he said.

The other employees of the COVID-19 victim's firm filed a case with Juhu police station against Shaikh, he said.

The four have been charged under IPC, Information Technology Act among others for cheating and forgery, said Unit XI Senior Inspector Chimaji Adhav.

"The wife of the deceased is bed-ridden while their children are in the United States," Adhav said.