Updated September 14th, 2019 at 14:04 IST

Matoshree staff at Thackeray residence were conned by man in disguise

Dheeraj More, 19, was arrested by the Khetwadi police for allegedly extracting money from the Matoshree staff posted at Uddhav Thackeray's residence in Bandra

Reported by: Misha Bhatt
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Dheeraj More, 19, was arrested by the Khetwadi police for allegedly extracting money from the Matoshree staff posted at Uddhav Thackeray's residence in Bandra. The accused approached the staff at Matoshree claiming to be a delivery boy, delivering a parcel he falsely claimed to have been ordered by the Shiv Sena party Chief's son, Aaditya Thackeray.

Matoshree was the official residence of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray

Matoshree is one of the most heavily guarded residential houses of Mumbai. It also housed the late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.

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A police officer on Saturday said, the accused, Dheeraj More had succeeded in conning the staff at the bungalow gate on three previous occasions using a very similar modus operandi. More was earlier arrested for a similar case and was recently arrested from the prison. A resident of Parel in Central Mumbai, Dheeraj More worked as a delivery boy in the past.

Post the attempt to con the Thackerays, security has tightened at the Matoshree residence.

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According to the Police officials, Dheeraj More's cover was blown when the staff at Matoshree detained him on Thursday. In another attempt to con the guards, the accused approached them again on later that day when he tried to deliver a parcel claiming that it has been ordered by Aaditya Thackeray.

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Zone 8 DCP, Manjunath Singh claimed that More had duped the staff of Rs 8,500 within a gap of few days. He delivered a pair of headphones, a textbook, and a computer microphone, claiming that the items were ordered by Aaditya online, which the latter never did.

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Case of cheating filed against the accused under Indian Penal Code 

On three previous occasions, Dheeraj had hyped the prices of the products and had conned the staff at Uddhav Thackeray's Matoshree residence. 

"On the fourth occasion, a staff member went inside the bungalow to enquire with Aaditya whether he had ordered anything, which the latter replied in negative. Meanwhile sensing trouble, More tried to run away but he was detained by the security guards and was handed over to Khetwadi police," said the DCP.

A case of cheating has been registered against Dheeraj More under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

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(With Inputs from PTI)

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Published September 14th, 2019 at 12:29 IST