5 held for armed robbery at cotton trader’s bungalow

City police on Tuesday claimed to have cracked the case in which four armed robbers allegedly held an elderly cotton trader and three others hostage at gunpoint at his bungalow here and decamped with cash and valuables worth Rs 5.7 lakh last month.

Crime branch officials said they have arrested five people, all residents of Mumbai, including a son of the cotton trader's driver, who is the "mastermind" of the robbery that took place in upmarket Apte Road locality in Deccan area on January 16.

According to police, the robbers had held cotton trader Hanskumar Khimji (79), his sister-in-law Hemaji Chheda (63), his domestic aide and caretaker of the bungalow, hostage.

“During the investigation, the crime branch officials received some leads and five people were arrested from Mumbai on Tuesday morning," Shirish Sardeshpande, deputy commissioner of police (crime), said.

The accused have been identified as driver's son Dipak Shivaji Medage (37), Kiran Tawde (36), Paras Solanki (27), Sachin Desoza (28) and Ganesh Gore (24), he said. Sardeshpande said two more suspects were still at large and the crime branch teams have launched a manhunt to nab them.

“Khemji wanted to sell off his Apte Road property. His driver, Shivaji Medage, who has been with Khimjis for the last several years, often used to discuss about it at his home," the official said.