Pune Crime Files: How a ‘where are you now’ phone call busted a robbery at gunpoint

On the night of August 10, a robbery took place in Kharabwadi, Maharashtra, when a pickup truck carrying cash for driver payments was ambushed by four armed men. The victims, Dhiraj Jawaharlal Yadav and Rambhavan Singh, were physically assaulted and robbed of Rs 1.08 lakh. However, the case took an unexpected turn when police caught a break through a phone call received by the victim just minutes before the robbery.

Dhiraj, a 23-year-old cashier at a transport company, had withdrawn Rs 1 lakh from an ATM in Kharabwadi and was on his way back to the company with the driver. His phone received an unfamiliar call approximately 30 minutes prior to the robbery. The caller, identified as Sarthak Popat Date, 21, a former company employee, asked Dhiraj about his whereabouts and movements. The unusual timing and location of the call led police to suspect foul play.

Further investigation traced Sarthak to his hometown in Jambut Khurd, Sangamner taluka. There, they arrested four co-conspirators: Ajit Bansi Pardhi, 22; Satyawan Sunil Devkar, 19; Hanumant Bhaskar Date, 27; and Yash Somanath Pawar, 20. The officers also recovered the getaway vehicles, the pellet handgun used during the robbery, and the stolen cash. All five accused are currently held in judicial custody.