DNA
Mumbai, Oct 4: A man, who stopped speeding vehicles, accused the drivers of rash driving, and collected what he told them was penalty, has been caught by the police, who now find that he has been impersonating a traffic police inspector.
Ramdas Pawar, 25, had been allegedly doing this for the past 2-3 months on the Eastern Express Highway between Mulund and Anand Nagar in Thane. He was spotted by a police patrol when he was busy with his mischief late on Tuesday night.
Interestingly, the patrol team thought that he was indeed a policeman doing his duty though not in uniform. His demeanour, his closed cropped hair, the way he dressed made them believe he was one of them, according to Pramod Patil, Police Sub-Inspector, Navghar police station, Mulund (East).
Before he took to flagging vehicles and behaving as policemen normally do, Pawar had learnt everything there was to on traffic rules and their violations from his brother, who is a constable in the traffic branch.
If the passing patrol had not stopped, got into a conversation with him, his luck would have run on and so would have the con. Pawar, charged with impersonating a public servant and cheating, has been remanded to jail custody.
A resident of Vitava in Thane, Pawar, who worked at a private enterprise in Mulund, used to go home on his company’s motorcycle (MH-03-AJ-435). “We have unearthed three cases booked against Pawar in our police station, with similar kind of modus operandi he used to cheat the drivers. Most of the target are
those caught for drunken driving and they are charged with a fine of Rs1,000-1,500,” said police inspector Vilas Shinde.
Shinde added that those caught had hardly ever checked Pawar’s authenticity or his identity. They paid the fine to avoid going to jail. Pawar was doing it to enjoy a lavish lifestyle.”
Pawar has been sent to Thane Jail. Within the next couple of days, he would undergo an identification parade. Police are trying to get the exact number of cases booked against him at various police stations in the city.