along with two police constables attached to Calangute Police Station on charges of criminal conspiracy and dacoity.
As per the complaint, Gadekar contacted Kotian through a common friend proposing a deal to exchange old currency notes worth Rs 16 lakh belonging to Gadekar for new notes worth Rs 10 lakh from Kotian. Kotian agreed to this and a meeting was fixed on December 1.
At the scheduled moment, Gadekar arrived at the spot along with five accomplices, two of whom were constables Keshav Naik and Mahendra Mandrekar, in a car along with two other associates on a scooter.
Gadekar asked the complainant to show the currency so he could verify the amount. When Kotian showed him the bag, Gadekar, with the help of his constable friends, snatched the bag in an attempt to stage a currency seizure.
Highly placed sources monitoring the investigation revealed that at that point, a scuffle broke out between Kotian and the others, and Gadekar’s accomplices assaulted Kotian. He was roughed up and pushed towards the car. However, he broke free from the accused, who fled with the money.
“On being questioned about the delay in reporting the matter to the police, Kotian said that it took him a long time to realise that he had been conned. Initially, he thought that it was a police raid. He was also scared of repercussions because Gadekar led him to believe that he was a powerful man,” a member of the police investigating team said.
Gadekar has been arrested by Calangute police and charged under section 365 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) for dacoity and section 120(B) for criminal conspiracy. Constables Naik and Mandrekar have also been arrested for their involvement in the offence.
Police sources confirmed that more cases of robbery by Gadekar have begun to tumble out of the closet and the role of the men in khaki, from constables to inspector, in these matters is presently under scrutiny.
