Mumbai: After an incident of stabbing at a Jogeshwari-based gym, police at Oshiwara were determined to go to the distance of arresting the accused but got stuck on the first day itself. The accused, a 24-year-old, disappeared immediately after committing the crime, switched off his phone, and left his home with his family – leaving the cops in bewilderment. Informants tipped them about the accused’s location in Gonda, UP, from where the real search – technical and physical – began, amid the biting cold weather conditions in the northern state.
Senior police inspector of Oshiwara, Mohan Patil formed a team of four, led by API Sandeep Patil, who began inquiring about the accused, named Mehboob Mukhtar Ahmed, near his location in Gulshan Nagar, Jogeshwari West. As they moved ahead in the investigation, tiny clues started to be uncovered – that ended up in Gonda, which goes down till 12 degrees, especially at night and early morning, or worse.
Patil’s team reached UP, but couldn’t ask anyone about the accused as they feared it may alert him, and would attempt to flee.
“We were completely dependent on the informants, and technical inputs we were getting from our other (cyber) team. It was pretty dark when we reached Gonda, and then we found that his house was in a much more remote area than we perceived. The entire night, we were sitting outside his village, on the field. It was almost 12 degrees, very chilly, but we had to plan it out, so we could put on action by the next morning. After staying up the whole night, we entered the village between 6:30 to 7 am on Tuesday,” explained Patil.
However, by the time they entered, Ahmed was alerted about the cops being present by some villagers, and he ran away using a village 'kuccha' road, that was known only by the villagers. The team of police inquired about Ahmed to everyone but none responded positively.
“They kept defending him, and defying us, except a small kid. We showed Ahmed’s photo to the kid who said to us ‘Uncle bahar gaye hai’ – which established that he indeed was here. We detained Ahmed’s brother and father so they don’t tip him further, and kept an eye on other family members,” added Patil.
Based on a broken direction idea provided by the kid, they travelled another 12 to 13 kilometers, along with local police and managed to trace Ahmed, who was spotted near a petrol pump on a national highway and placed him under arrest.
During the investigation, it was known that Ahmed had asked all his family members to switch off their phones so they were not traced by the police. A local court in Gonda has approved the transit remand of Ahmed, and he will be brought soon to Mumbai, police said. Ahmed later will be produced in Dindoshi court.
The Incident
The victim Mohammad Nayaf Baloch, a gym trainer by profession, who works at Planet Fitness Gym in Jogeshwari, and the accused Ahmed were friends. Ahmed came to the gym daily to work out. One day, Ahmed and Baloch exchanged their smartwatches with each other, but the one Baloch got stopped functioning. Baloch asked Ahmed to return his, but the latter denied it.
On December 6, Ahmed entered the gym and started demanding a refund for his watch from Baloch. When he said he didn’t have the money, Ahmed lost his cool and started attacking Baloch with a knife he pulled out from his pocket. Baloch was stabbed in his neck, and chest repeatedly. A day later on December 7, he approached the police and registered a case against Ahmed for attempt to murder charges.
