Now, fake mask marshals terrorise travellers at LTT

The fake marshals escape after seeing police at LTT. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Posing as civic body's clean-up marshals, a gang of hooligans are harassing and extorting train travellers arriving at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Kurla. Armed with fake uniforms and bogus ID cards, they extort migrants coming to Mumbai under some pretext or the other. mid-day also found a man claiming to be a journalist trying to save them when the police arrived to take action.

The clean-up marshals engaged by the BMC to enforce its mask mandate are already a detested lot as many of them harass citizens. Earlier, this correspondent took up the job of a clean-up marshal to expose their wrongdoings. But the arrival of the gang of frauds at LTT is a double blow to the public. mid-day came across 20-25 such people at the train terminus.

One of the busiest train points in the city, LTT sees a daily footfall of over 10,000 people. The fake marshals position themselves under railway bridges to target travellers. Ganesh Chavan, a contractor of BMC's marshals, told mid-day that they have complained about the crooks to the police and civic officials but the gang continues to operate with impunity.

"We have deployed 10 marshals in this area. These fake marshals arrived here 6-7 months ago. They are from the slums in the vicinity. They behave rudely with passengers and even assault them. Our marshals fine only those who do not wear masks and we also issue receipts. But these fake marshals collect the same receipts from people and use them to fine others." Chavan said he has warned the frauds many times. "I also took a photo of a guy called Rahul who was collecting money from travellers. His gang then threatened us. It's just gunda gardi. On many occasions, I've stopped them from harassing the people. Whenever the police reach the spot, they escape into the slums," he said.

A woman fake marshal removes her uniform to evade the cops at LTT, Kurla

mid-day's photojournalist Syyed Sameer Abedi also captured many such fake marshals in his camera. Recently, when the police rushed to LTT after receiving a complaint, the marshals rushed under a bridge and removed their uniforms before fleeing. As the police reached LTT, a man claiming as a journalist rushed towards them. He told the police team, "Earlier, the cops were managing all these." To this, the officer replied, "Now, the old staff is gone. We won't allow any fake marshals here."

BMC's executive engineer Mahadev Shinde, who is also in charge of the L ward and holds the post of assistant commissioner, confirmed that they have been getting complaints about fake marshals regularly. "A few days back, we received a call from a traveller and we asked him to check the ID card of the marshal. However, the marshal started threatening him." Shinde said there are slums outside Kurla LTT and many criminals live there. "We don't go there directly taking police with us. A few days ago, the police tried to intervene, but they escaped. We have told the police to keep an eye on the activities of the marshals at LTT and take action if they come across any fake marshals."

Shinde added, "Every citizen should their ID cards before paying any fine. The police are trying to nab them. We have also received complaints that some people are calling themselves marshals despite not having uniform or IDs."