Mumbai: Sapna Pereira is back! Climbs hoarding with stones to pelt at passers-by

Sapna Pereira claws her way up behind a hoarding at Girgaum Chowpatty as rescuers give chase. Pics/Bipin Kokate

Sapna Pereira is at it again, driving the police up the wall with her antics. The dangerous disrupter, who has terrorised Mumbai several times in the past, once again resorted to her notorious tactic of clambering up a tall hoarding and stoning the public. The drama began around 2 pm, when passers-by and motorists at Girgaum Chowpatty suddenly noticed Sapna clawing her way up a tall hoarding near Bal Bhavan, armed with a bag of stones. As the police and firemen chased her up the scaffolding, she alternated between threats of jumping and pelting stones at the public below.

Sapna leads her rescuers on a wild goose chase

High drama
Within minutes, traffic was gridlocked on the road below, as a crowd gathered to click pictures of the daredevil clambering up. All the while she threatened to jump from the hoarding. A fire engine arrived at the scene, even as motorists honked wildly below. As the mercury zoomed on the hot afternoon, tempers started to get frayed as looked for a way out of the logjam. Some bystanders got into the fray too, shouting, "Here is Rs 2,000, please come down." Sapna was heard yelling back, "Paisa nahi chahiye (I do not want money)."

The police take her away kicking and screaming

Threats and stones
Rohit Nirmal, 23, a Bhavans College student, was among the first on the scene. He recalled, "I was going to my friend's house when I saw a woman climbing the hoarding. I asked her what she was doing, she did not answer. By then, a police officer had arrived. He started climbing the hoarding, so I climbed up too. Luckily, I was carrying a bike helmet with me, and I wore it when she started pelting stones at us."

PSI Santosh Rathod

PSI Santosh S Rathod, from Marine Drive police station, said, "All of us climbed up half way once, but aborted the attempt when she threatened to jump. Then, we started climbing again. We were subjected to a volley of abuse. We kept climbing. Once, she even tied her dupatta into a noose and threatened to hang herself. There were so many moments where it felt like my heart was in my mouth."

Nisar Shaikh and Rohit Nirmal

The next person to chase after Sapna was Nisar Shaikh, 50, a labour contractor. "I was on my way home to Colaba when I saw her. I am a member of the 'Mitra Police' (friends of the police) at Colaba police station, so I got off my bike and started climbing too. The woman was high up, almost 40 feet up, but she relented when I grabbed her bag. It had rocks, papers and a mobile phone in it. We got her down to about 10 feet, and then she was brought down on the fire brigade's ladder," said Nisar.

Rohit added, "She was abusing us, but we held her arms and legs at every step, because she kept threatening to jump." Although the police is all too familiar with Sapna's antics, this was PSI Santosh's first brush with her. "This was my first such experience since joining the police," said the young officer. "I had to dig into reserves of courage; just one wrong step could have ended in grave injury or worse," he said, still reeling from the incident.

Nightmare for the police
The police took her kicking and screaming, but the cops remain unsure about what Sapna wanted. Throughout, Sapna was heard ranting, "I want justice. I want justice from Juhu police station." She also shouted, "Narendra Modi ki jai ho," before she was whisked away in a police car.

A senior officer from the Marine Drive police station said, "Sapna Pereira is currently in lock-up. We have filed a case under IPC Section 309, which lays down the punishment for attempted suicide. I am aware of several complaints against her."

This is hardly the first time she has gone on rampage in the city before. In December 2016, mid-day had highlighted how she would terrorise the sisters at Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity home in Vile Parle. Her signature tactic, though, has been to climb atop towers or hoardings, and threaten to commit suicide unless the police met a variety of demands.

When the Santacruz police arrived at her house in Nehru Nagar following the incident at the charity home, to serve a notice under Section 41 (D) of the Bombay Police Act, but their resolve wilted when she threatened self-immolation.

Cops later served her a notice asking her to be present at the police station the following day and had even sought an explanation for her acts. Without creating any nuisance Sapna followed the entire procedure and was released on a bond.

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates