The incident took place between 8am and 8.30am on Saturday when Manoj Patel, a resident of Vile Parle (East), was on his way to catch a train. (AI-generated image)

MUMBAI: A man impersonating a police officer allegedly duped a Vile Parle resident of Rs 13,000 after threatening to book him and send him to jail for three months for chewing gutka, which is banned in Maharashtra, police said on Monday.The Vile Parle police, who have registered a case, said the conman flashed what appeared to be a police identity card and demanded a Rs 25,000 fine, warning the victim that he would be jailed for three months if he failed to pay. The accused then made the victim withdraw Rs 13,000 from an ATM and hand over the cash to avoid action.The incident took place between 8 am and 8.30 am on Saturday when Manoj Patel (49), a resident of Vile Parle (East), was on his way to catch a train to reach his workplace at Masjid Bunder.“A team has been formed to trace the unidentified conman, who arrived on a motorcycle and flashed an ID card while impersonating a police officer. The team is scanning CCTV footage to identify the route he took after fleeing,” an officer from Vile Parle police station said.Patel was near the Adarsh Petrol Pump on Nehru Road in Vile Parle (East) when a man, believed to be around 40 to 45 years old, approached him on a two-wheeler.In his complaint, Patel said: “He stopped me claiming to be a police officer and showed me a police ID card, asking how I could consume gutka when it is banned. He threatened to impose a Rs 25,000 fine and put me in lock-up for three months. When I assured him that I would not repeat the mistake, he asked how much money I had. I told him I had money in my SBI bank account.”The conman then took Patel on his two-wheeler to an SBI ATM on Sadanand Road in Vile Parle and asked him to withdraw money.“The conman waited outside the ATM while I withdrew Rs 13,000 and handed it over to him. He then left the spot, and I went to work. While at work, I realised that the man had neither taken me to a police station nor given me any receipt for the money,” Patel said in the FIR.After realising that he had been cheated by a man impersonating a police officer and using a fake identity card, Patel approached the Vile Parle police after returning home from work and lodged a complaint.