Karnataka businessman held captive for days in Thane hotels, robbed of Rs 2 cr at gunpoint
Thane (PTI): Police have arrested a man after he allegedly tricked a Karnataka-based businessman into visiting Maharashtra's Thane district on the promise of investment in his firm, and was robbed of over Rs 2 crore at gunpoint after holding him captive in multiple hotels, officials said on Thursday.
The incident took place between December 15 and 18, 2025, and the main accused in the case, Ankit Bapu Thombre (40), a resident of Manpada in Thane, was arrested on January 6, an official said.
The arrest was made by the Crime Branch Unit-I of the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar police commissionerate, ACP (Crime) Madan Ballal said.
"The victim, identified as Shamantkumar Shadak Sharappa Karder (31), a businessman from Shimoga in Karnataka, received a call on December 15, 2025, from a man, who identified himself as Ankit. The latter expressed interest in investing in his company," he said.
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"Trusting his proposal, the complainant travelled to Kashimira in Thane district. However, the accused took him to three different hotels between December 15 and 18 and held him captive there," ACP Ballal said.
The accused threatened the businessman with a pistol, while his accomplice wielded a knife. They forcibly obtained the victim's net banking ID and password. Using these details, they made unauthorised online transactions amounting to Rs 2,17,63,287 from the complainant's current bank account," he added.
Based on the complaint, the Kashimira police registered an FIR on January 2, under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including attempt to murder and wrongful confinement, along with sections of the Arms Act, against Thombre and his accomplices.
"During the investigation, police found that the accused had tried to conceal his identity by using a mobile number from the United Kingdom. But despite that, the police identified the main accused and finally arrested him from Shil Phata near Navi Mumbai," Ballal added.
Police also seized a sports utility vehicle (SUV) used by the accused in the crime, he said.
The police are now looking for his accomplices, the official said.
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Kerala: ED files money laundering case in Sabarimala gold loss case
Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate on Friday filed a money laundering case in the Sabarimala gold loss case in Kerala, official sources said.
The federal probe agency's Kochi zonal office has registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), an ED equivalent of a police FIR, under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
The politically sensitive case is already being investigated by a state special investigation team (SIT) under the supervision of the Kerala High Court.
In December, the high court had allowed the ED to undertake an independent investigation into the case after it dismissed objections raised by the SIT against sharing the case information with the central agency.
The SIT is probing two cases related to the gold loss incident and has arrested 11 people so far. The latest to be arrested by the SIT was Kandararu Rajeevaru, the chief priest of the Lord Ayyappa temple.
The other prominent persons arrested in the case by the SIT are Bengaluru-based businessman and prime accused Unnikrishnan Potty and former Travancore Devaswom Board president A Padmakumar.
The ED is expected to soon look for more evidence, question the accused, and it may also go on to attach certain assets of those involved if it finds that they generated "proceeds of crime", according to the officials.
The probe is related to a series of irregularities, including official misconduct, administrative lapses and a criminal conspiracy to misappropriate the gold from the various artefacts of the Lord Ayyappa shrine.
The investigation by the SIT, and now by the ED, is related to the loss of gold from the gold-cladded copper plates of the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols and the door frames of the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple.
The SIT has informed the High Court that its probe found "a series of serious official misconduct and administrative lapses on the part of the Devaswom officials right from the initial correspondence till the handing over of the door frame plates, connected plates, Dwarapalaka plates and pillar plates to Unnikrishnan Potty without proper authorisation".
It further said in its statement that Govardhan, Pankaj Bhandari, the CEO of Chennai-based Smart Creations, which carried out the electroplating of the artefacts from the temple, Potty and the other accused hatched a criminal conspiracy with malicious intention to misappropriate the gold cladded on the copper plates in and around the shrine.
"It is found during the investigation that all these criminal activities were part of a large conspiracy and an organised crime committed by the accused persons.
"They had a larger plan to dismantle other gold-clad items on the Sabarimala Sreekovil and to extract the gold from them for misappropriation," it said.
