ATM assault turns out to be case of mistaken identity

Pune: Shivajinagar police on Monday detained a worker and a civil contractor for beating up a 32-year-old man from Kasba Peth and robbing him of Rs28,000 at Agriculture College Chowk around 9.15 pm. The duo also beat up the victim's friend.However, investigations revealed that it was a case of mistaken identity, and the robbery charges were also raised by mistake.
Senior inspector Girish Dighavkar of Shivajinagar police told TOI, "The victim (32) is a resident of Kasba Peth. His father is a civil contractor. The victim and his friend visited an ATM kiosk on FC Road near Agriculture College Chowk, and the victim withdrew Rs28,000 from the ATM unit."In the meantime, a fight broke out at a nearby fuel station where the two detained men went to fill petrol in their motorcycle. The detained men and the fuel station attendant picked up a fight over the issue of the queue at the fuel station," Dighavkar said."The fuel station attendant ran from the fuel station and reached outside the ATM kiosk where the complainant's friend was standing. At this moment, the complainant came out, and the two detained men thought that the fuel station attendant called someone else to beat them up. The duo then beat up the complainant and his friend. The cash fell on the road, which the complainant's friend picked up, and he ran away from the spot. He gave the cash to the complainant's father and went to his home without telling the complainant's father anything," he said."After the incident, the victim reached the police station and his statement was recorded," Dighavkar said."However, after studying the CCTV footage, we got the motorcycle's registration number on which the duo sped away. We studied the CCTV footage of the fuel station as well as the ATM unit, and then realised that it was a case of mistaken identity," he said.