MiD DAY photographer Bipin Kokate gives chase to robbers, who fled with foreign currency and tried to run down a constable in their escape bid
MiD DAY photographer Bipin Kokate gives chase to robbers, who fled with foreign currency and tried to run down a constable in their escape bid
|
|
chor police aur car chase: The duo, Pahle Khan Abbas Ali and Mohammed Lala Khan, were arrested after a car chase near Raj Bhavan at Malabar Hill. pics/bipin kokate |
It seemed like another mundane day, as I cruised on my motorbike from Girgaum chowpatty towards Walkeshwar in search of exclusive pictures. Just as I halted for a breather, I saw a police van, sirens roaring, race past me. On instinct, I followed suit sensing that an incident must have taken place in the posh neighbourhood.
In a hurryJust as I reached Teen Batti junction, I was startled to see a traffic constable, Rajesh Sawant, trying in vain to halt a Maruti Esteem. The driver of the vehicle was in a hurry, and paid no attention to the constable's warnings. Instead, he tried to run him over. Sawant jumped on to the car and was precariously holding on the windscreen, in a bid to stop them. However, the driver rammed the brakes hard, toppling Sawant and managed to flee.
By now, I had gathered from the other policemen that the two escapees were possibly armed. The two, whose names I later learnt as Pahle Khan Abbas Ali (21) and Mohammed Lala Khan (38), had headed up an inclined road towards Malabar Hill. They were intercepted near Raj Bhavan, where I learnt that the two had just robbed the Girgaum branch of Standard Chartered bank.
While Ali claimed to be a Canadian national, Khan said that he was an Iranian. The two, however, did not have their passports with them. At the Malabar Hill police station, where the two were taken, Ali took offence to being identified as a habitual bank thief.
"I will shoot you," he screamed at a bank official, who identified Ali from the CCTV clips taken by the bank.u00a0
According to Malabar Hill PSI L M Ture, the police had been on the look out for Ali and Khan.
The CCTV cameras at the Standard Chartered bank had clips of the two fleeing with foreign currency and accordingly an alert had been sounded for the two. The case was shifted to the D B Marg police station as the place of arrest was in its jurisdiction.
Modus Operandi The duo would visit banks on the pretext of exchanging foreign currency. They would then reject certain notes saying it was damaged and create a scene by raising objections to the cashier's behaviour. Then, using a hand-trick the two would make good with the notes and walk away.
