Mumbai: Constable chases thieves for 45 mins and nabs one; gets award

Pic courtesy/ Anurag Kamble

Crime Conference held on Tuesday felicitated Rajkiran Bilaskar, (28) a constable from the Wadala TT Police station, who chased two robbers for 45 minutes and nabbed one out of the two. The robbers armed with sickles and sword tried to attack Bilaskar where one managed to get away, but Bilaskar managed to nab the other. Top cop rewarded constable Bilaskar with a cash prize of Rs 20,000.

On 31 Januar, Rajkiran Bilaskar was on night duty. While patrolling near Mhada Colony, he noticed a Maruti Esteem car speeding away. Bilaskar suspected something wrong and started following the car. "As I started following the car, he started speeding, crossing a 100 km/hr mark. When he reached IMAX Wadala area, watching me still follow him, he slowed down and stopped the car near IMAX, Wadala" said Bilaskar. "I saw one person sitting at driver's seat and another was at the backseat. He spoke calmly and apologised for over speeding. When I demanded papers for the vehicle, he baffled and raced the car away. I somehow managed to save myself from the rear tires." Bilaskar added.

Bilaskar begun pursuit again, the accused took the car to the Eastern Freeway, suspecting a case of a stolen vehicle, the cop followed the car to the freeway. After reaching Kokri Agar, driver took a right turn and drove towards Pratiksha Nagar where the tires of the car blew out. "I saw the opportunity and ran towards the car. The person sitting on driver's seat got down from the car, and removed a small sword from the bag and tried to attack me," informed Bilaskar. "I managed to save myself and he ran away inside an alley of a building. I was 50 feet away from the car and saw the person sitting at the back seat was running away too. I started following him, picked up a stone while running and threw at him," added Bilaskar.

Four boys at the Pratiksha Nagar saw the entire fiasco and enacted picking up stones at the accused, seeing this he slowed down and Bilaskar managed to catch him. "Arrested accused is identified as Firoz Malik Sheikh (32), we suspect he is involved in robberies and housebreaking cases. The Car (MH-12-CY-7236) was stolen from Bhoiwada area on 13th January" said an officer. "We are trying to investigate if they have used this vehicle to commit another crime" officer added. Accused Firoz has been booked under various sections of IPC, Bombay Police Act and Arms Act. Cops have recovered three sickles form him and are looking out for his partner in crime.

When Ankush Katkar, the senior Inspector of Wadala TT learnt about this incident, he conveyed it to the top brass, resulting in a reward to Bilaskar. Mumbai Police Commissioner Subodh Jaiswal felicitated Bilaskar and announced a cash prize of Rs 20,000 in the Crime Conference held on Tuesday morning. "I am really honored and touched as my work was recognised by Senior Inspector, ACP and all top bosses" stated Bilaskar.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates