2 home guards extort, rob man at Borivli railway station; held

OFFICERS ARE PROBING IF THE ARRESTED DUO HAVE DUPED OTHERS IN THE PAST

MUMBAI: The Borivli Government Railway Police (GRP) on Monday arrested two home guards for allegedly threatening a 30-yearold man with arrest and forcing him to pay them ₹11,000.

The home guards have been identified as Jaigopal Gupta, 29, and Deepak Yadav, 25. Police said they have been home guards for four years. The complainant was identified as Riyaz Shaikh, 30, a resident of Dahisar. The accused were identified based on CCTV footage from the ATM kiosk where the duo allegedly forced Shaikh to withdraw money.

According to the GRP, the incident took place around 11pm on March 8 at Borivli railway station. Shaikh was in a public toilet inside the station when Gupta began arguing with him for “staring” at him. He slapped Shaikh and dragged him out of the toilet. Outside, he was joined by Yadav.

The duo told Shaikh that they were in the police force and showed him a photo of them in uniform. They also spoke about “arresting” Shaikh. They then took Shaikh to an ATM kiosk and made him withdraw ₹11,000.

They also took his ATM card and phone. Shaikh approached the GRP the next day.

Home guards are an auxiliary force, deployed to assist security agencies to which they are allotted. They are a voluntary force and are paid an honorarium.