Mumbai: Teams from three police stations in the city collaborated on a single operation after a tip-off and arrested a chain-snatching suspect from Irani Vasti in Ambivali, where the locals are known to protect criminals.
The 26 police personnel disguised themselves and travelled in an ambulance and private cars to avoid suspicion. However, when locals realised they had entered their locality, they pelted stones at the officers who still managed to arrest the suspect who has 30 cases of chain-snatching against his name.
The infamous Irani Vasti of Ambivali
Irani Vasti is infamous for being a criminal's abode where they live and support their families with money made by committing crimes like chain snatching, forgery, fraud and burglary. Even the women in the area support the criminals by shielding them from the police. The women usually surround the suspect, attack the cops with stones and chase them away.
To reach the locality, one has to cross a bridge and as soon as any unknown person or police vehicle enters, the entire settlement gets the news and the criminals begin to escape into their hideouts. This has been making it very difficult for the police to enter the locality and arrest any accused person.
According to the information received, Jakir Sayyed, 25, was going to visit a tea stall in the locality around 11am. The police knew it is risky to enter the locality with a small team, so they collaborated with three police stations – Charkop, Borivali, and Malad – and formed three teams of 26 policemen. They arranged for two ambulances and two private cars to enter the locality without arousing suspicion.
According to their plan, one team would arrest Sayyed and put him in the ambulance while the other two teams would manage the crowd with sticks in case they attacked.
Crowd began surrounding the police teams and pelted stones
On the day of the arrest, the police got confirmation that Sayyed will come to the tea stall in a white shirt. They reached the location in private vehicles and waited for him. However, as soon as they tried to arrest him, an alert was sounded by the locals and a crowd began surrounding the police teams and pelted stones at them. The police chased the crowd away while trying to confine Sayyed in the ambulance. But the people injured the ambulance driver and pulled him out.
As a result, he couldn't be taken in that vehicle anymore. So they dragged him for almost 800 meters, while dealing with the stone-pelting crowd, towards the smaller ambulance and locked him inside. The officers, most of whom were injured during the operation, then quickly left the locality to avoid any further confrontation.
