Bank manager, 3 held for car-jacking

MUMBAI: Four people, including a relationship manager working with the State Bank of India, have been arrested by the Mumbai crime branch in connection with the recent instances of car-jacking cases.
The police have recovered cellphones, cash, gold ornaments as well as credit and debit cards, which were looted in separate instances near Lotus petrol pump at Oshiwara in Andheri in the last three months.The police have also recovered a toy gun and a knife with which the gang members used to threaten their victims. While the SBI employee has been identified as Chandraprakash Sharma (28), the gang leader has been identified as Shivpal Singh (29) and his two associates���Rajesh Brijesh Verma (25) and Mahendra Kohli (35). All have been remanded to police custody till June 28.
With their arrest, the police claimed to have solved two cases of car-jacking that took place near at the Oshiwara petrol pump recently. On June 3, businessman Hiren Chedda was waylaid near the petrol pump. Three men barged inside Chedda���s vehicle and at gun-point took him to Grant Road. On the way, they looted him of his gold chain and rings. They then fled in a taxi.
Within three days of the incident, another businessman Jignesh Soni���who hails from Indore���was targeted by the gang. Soni was waiting at the signal when three of the accused barged into his Honda City car and at gun point asked him to drive. ���But as he came towards SNDT college in Juhu, Soni used his presence of mind and told the accused that his car was out of fuel. He then got down with the car keys and escaped,������ a police official said.
Commenting on how the gang was busted, senior inspector of unit 9, Ashok Borkar said, ���Acting on a tip-off, we laid a trap at Infinity mall in Goregaon on Saturday. When the four arrived, we arrested them.������
���During interrogations, they gave details of another case. We are trying to verify the facts,������ said crime branch chief Rakesh Maria. When asked as to how the SBI employee was involved in the case, Maria said, ���We believe Sharma used to sell off the booty. Several credits cards have been recovered from his house.������