Belagavi police arrest man who complained of highway robbery after over Rs 1 cr found in car

BELAGAVI: In a curious turn of events, the Belagavi police have arrested three people, including a businessman who had lodged a complaint that he was waylaid by highway robbers and robbed of Rs 75 lakh at gunpoint on the Bengaluru-Mumbai National Highway-4 a few days ago.

Businessman Suraj Honamane from Kolhapur in Maharashtra had lodged a complaint at the Sankeshwar police station alleging that he was waylaid by two men and robbed of Rs 75 lakh and his car near Haragapura in Hukkeri taluk on November 15.

The secret compartment under the hand brake lever under the front seats of the SUV.

Suraj’s car was later found abandoned near Nerli village. Upon checking, the police found Rs 1.01 crore hidden in a secret compartment in the SUV just under the hand brake lever, leading to suspicion.

Belagavi Police Superintendent Bheemashankar Guled, who addressed a press conference on Tuesday, said, “Suraj Honamane had lodged a complaint that he was robbed of Rs 75 lakh when he was coming from Maharashtra. During investigation, the car was found abandoned near Nerli village. Suraj had claimed that Rs 75 lakh had been robbed from him, but the police found Rs 1.01 crore in his car. When questioned about it, he said a businessman had given it to him and that he had not counted the money”.

Belagavi Police Superintendent Bheemashankar Guled briefing the media.

“We got suspicious about this and took the complainant Suraj, his car driver Arif Sheikh and Ajay Saragar into custody and questioned them. Suraj’s SUV had been modified to create a secret compartment under the hand brake lever in which he was transporting cash. Hence, we have registered a case under the Motor Vehicles Act too. Since a huge amount of cash was found, we have notified the Income Tax Department too”, the SP said.

The officer said that Bharat Marugade, a gold trader from Sangli in Maharashtra, conducts business in used gold in Kerala. “He sends the old gold to Kolhapur in Maharashtra and the money goes back to Kerala. More people may be involved in this and hence, we have formed three teams to investigate in Kerala, Maharashtra and also locally”, Bheemashankar Guled said.