PUNE: An offer by a stranger to drop him home in his car on Tuesday night left a software engineer employed with an IT giant in Hinjewadi shaken and poorer by Rs 1.50 lakh.

Four men in the car forcibly took the ATM pin number from IT engineer Ravi Shankar Gopal (34), currently residing at Vishalnagar in Mulshi taluka, and withdrew Rs 1.50 lakh cash from different ATM kiosks.The suspects drove Gopal around for about three-and-a-half hours and then dumped him at Kaspate Chowk in Wakad.

Gopal, who was in a state of shock, approached the Hinjewadi police station on Wednesday and lodged a complaint.

N J Jagdale, assistant inspector of the Hinjewadi police station, told TOI that Gopal is an employee of an IT company located in the phase-II of the Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park in Hinjewadi. “On Tuesday, Gopal missed the cab organized by the office and decided to take a bus to reach home," he said.

Jagdale said while Gopal was waiting for a bus at a request stop near the company, a white car approached him and the driver offered him a lift. Jagdale, the assistant inspector of the Hinjewadi police station, said the driver assured Gopal that he would drop him near his home in Vishalnagar. He added, "Gopal saw another person sitting inside the car apart from the driver but he did not suspect any foul play when he boarded the vehicle," he said.

After travelling for some distance, the driver offered a lift to two more men. "The car sped towards Marunji Road.The persons sitting next to Gopal all of a sudden threatened him with a sharp weapon.When Gopal tried to raise an alarm, they threatened to kill him," Jagdale said.

Gopal was frisked and the cash in his wallet snatched.“They took Gopal's ATM card and forced him to reveal its pin number. The cash withdrawal limit was Rs 1 lakh per day and the suspects stopped the car near an ATM and withdrew the amount,“ Jagdale said adding, Jagdale said that the suspects then drove Gopal around till midnight. "After midnight, the suspects again stopped the car near another ATM and withdrew Rs 50,000 by using Gopal's card," he said.

He said the suspects then drove some distance and pushed him out of the car at Kaspte Chowk in Wakad and fled. Before fleeing, they threatened Gopal not to inform the police. “However, on Wednes day afternoon, Gopal approached us and lodged the complaint," Jagdale said.

A terrified Gopal was not able to note the registration number of the car. “Neither did he remember the number of ATMs from where the suspects withdrew the cash,“ Jagdale said.

Jagdale said police will get all the details of the ATMs from where the cash was withdrawn. “We are also checking CCTV footage on the roads to trace the car," he said.

