Pune: The Narhe police are searching for a motorcycle rider who allegedly posed as a police constable, stole a cellphone from a 32-year-old man near Navale Bridge and siphoned off Rs 1.33 lakh from his two bank accounts on Saturday.The victim, Raju Choudhary of Ambegaon Pathar, lodged a complaint with the police.“Choudhary and his friend, both executives with a private company, were travelling from Navale Bridge towards Katraj Chowk. They had stopped on the service road when the suspect arrived on a motorcycle,” senior inspector Varsha Deshmukh of Narhe police told TOI,“Although he was not in police uniform, the man claimed to be a police constable and began questioning them about their identities, destination and why they were standing on the service road,” Deshmukh said.“The suspect then took Choudhary’s cellphone and asked for the password and the PIN of his UPI application. Claiming that the phone needed to be verified, he asked Choudhary’s friend to sit pillion on his motorcycle. He rode towards the New Katraj Tunnel, stopped near the Swaminarayan temple and asked the friend to get off before fleeing,” she said.According to the police, the suspect then used Choudhary’s UPI application and bank account credentials to transfer Rs 1.33 lakh from his two bank accounts.This is the third such incident reported in the city in which a motorcycle rider has allegedly stolen or snatched a cellphone from a commuter and misused banking or UPI credentials to siphon off money.“We have obtained details of the bank account used in the transactions and are confident of arresting the suspect soon,” Deshmukh said.
