In a Bollywood flick Special 26-style heist, six persons impersonating as Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials robbed over Rs 30 lakhs from a beedi businessman from Bolanthur near Vittal in Bantwal taluk in Dakshina Kannada on Friday night.
Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police Yathish N said that six persons introduced themselves as ED officials to Singari beedi owner Sulaiman Haji, who also owns around 80 acres of areca nut farm in and around Bantwal.
The accused claimed that there is a search warrant against Sulaiman Haji for evading tax and gaining entry inside the house. Later they searched inside the house and confiscated the mobile phones of the house members and found Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh in the cupboard and told Haji that he is not supposed to keep huge amounts of cash and he would be taken into custody.
The accused asked to furnish documents for the cash seized in their "Bengaluru office". The accused had also claimed that they had stayed in a lodge in Bantwal from where they asked Haji to collect their seized mobile phones but when the victim went to Bantwal, the accused had already escaped with the money.
Victim's son Mohammad Iqbal, a resident of Kolnadu said that the thieves arrived with a Tamil Nadu registered car and entered their house at around 8 pm on Friday and were there till 11.30 pm. According to the victim, the accused spoke only in Hindi and English and did not steal any gold and other valuables from the house other than cash. Sulaiman had brought the cash to pay wages to beedi workers. The four storied house did not have a CCTV camera. SP Yathish said separate teams have been formed to nab the accused.
Meanwhile, Yathish and team visited the house and are further investigating the case. A case has been registered by Vittal police under sections 319 (2), 318 (4) of BNS 2023.