Two criminals frame city hotelier to send him to jail

Nagpur: Two hardened criminals framed a hotelier in a fake case, ensured he was sent behind bars, then stole his cheques, and tried to encash them, only to be exposed. Sadar police completed an intriguing probe before arresting goon Sattar Ansari, who had several offences against him, at the end of the month-long drama. The businessman, Akshay Limbanna, is likely to be discharged from the case now. The episode kicked off with the arrest of Limbanna and ended with Ansari being taken into custody, after he admitted to the conspiracy.

Sources stated Ansari was miffed with Limbanna, who owned a hotel at Sadar, for not settling his labour dues as per his demand, leaving him in a financial loss. To avenge his loss, Ansari along with accomplice Pankaj Rahangdale planted 21 govt rubber stamps, two stamp papers, and some white powder, labelling them as MD in four small packets inside the kitchen of the hotel, where renovation work was underway. Police said Rahangdale has cases against him at Rewa in Madhya Pradesh.

Ansari and Rahangdale then alerted Sadar police, which led to a case against Limbanna being registered at Sadar police station in the first week of April. He was also taken into custody.

In the meantime, Sattar and Rahangdale stole cheques from the office of Limbanna and tried to encash them from his account at a bank on Central Avenue with his fake signatures. As Limbanna was in custody, he was unable to answer any calls from the bank or read any messages. After he was bailed out, Limbanna was stunned to see the attempts made to encash his cheques.

He approached the Sadar police station with a complaint. The cops traced around 50 CCTV footages before managing to identify an autorickshaw in which Ansari and Rahangdale had come to the bank, said senior inspector Manish Thakare of Sadar police.

Ansari was trapped by Sadar police in the first week of May from Mount Road. He confessed to having conspired to frame Limbanna and misuse his stolen cheques.