Mumbai: Chasing fake cops, real police get a brutal hammering

The footage of an attack on a team of DN Nagar police by the notorious Iranian gang members in Ambivali recently proves again that criminals have no fear of the law In the recent arrest of a criminal at Ambivali the cops had to bundle him into a school van even as locals threw huge stones at the police in an attempt to stop themMany cops are injured and police vehicles damaged in such arrests As per Mumbai police records most of these fake cops chain snatchers and mobile snatchers are from Ambivali village as was Firoz Fayyaz Khan who posed as a fake cop in the complaint that DN Nagar police acted on recentlyIn some cases the cops have had to return empty handed ldquobecause women rain empty beer bottles and pelt stones at us and our vehiclesrdquo said a police officerldquoIf one person comes to know that somebody has been arrested the message spreads like wildfire and hundreds of people gather to set the nabbed criminal free from our custodyrdquo said a crime branch officer from Mumbai policeThe Kalachowkie police grabbed Kabul Jafri and dragged him from the railway tracks to the other sideldquoThe police teams generally donrsquot inform their local counterparts fearing information leakage This is happening only because of the political approach to not end the menace of these Iranians Why are these handful of Iranians so powerful in their den at Ambivali Are their numbers bigger than those of Maharashtra police Why are the Iranians not being eradicated till date The answer is vote bankrdquo said a police officer whose friend was injured in one of the operations at AmbivaliIn the viral CCTV footage the locals are seen pelting stones at a team of DN Nagar police while the accused Firoz Fayyaz Khan 62 is being taken to a school van by at AmbivalildquoAny police team mdash visiting Ambivali to arrest an accused mdash has to work swiftly silently and very smartly before the mob gets together to prevent the arrest of a wanted criminal The local residents pelt stones not only to scare the cops but also to work as an obstacle so that others get sufficient time to arrive and free the accused from the clutches of police So a team has to act sensibly else the cops will have to return empty handed with multiple injuries and face the brunt of seniorsrdquo said another police officerSources in the police department told midday that the local residents keep an eye on every visitor at their den and follow them in the lanes They alert everyone on WhatsApp groups where they also circulate the photographs of suspected policemen and their vehicles This is why the cops now either take private vehicles or school vans or ambulances to bring the criminals from Ambivali DN Nagar caseOn August 27 the DN Nagar police apprehended Firoz Fayyaz Khan 62 who posed as a policeman and stole R1 lakh from a bag in Jogeshwari West According to police on August 10 the victim Kishan Kumar Basavraj Halli 21 from Andheri West went to a bank in Jogeshwari West and withdrew R8 lakh from his office account Khan pretended to be a cop and stopped Halli Khan asked Halli Whats in your bag Charas ganja Halli opened the bag and Khan and the others stole R1 lakh before escapingWith the help of CCTV footage the police identified the accused as a resident of Indira Nagar close to Ambivali Railway Station West He has 35 cases against him in Mumbai Thane and Navi MumbaiThe DN Nagar police team went to Ambivali village in a school van and another car on August 27 at 1145 am Some cops were dressed in burkhas They saw Khan getting a haircut at a salon grabbed and placed him in the school van Soon locals gathered attempting to stop the vehicle and attacked the police with stonesAPI Pawar sustained injuries when a person threw a stone at his head The police retaliated using the stones thrown at them for defence and managed to bring the accused to the police station They arrested the accused under IPC sections 170 420 and 34 More sections will be added due to the locals attack on the policeBandra copsIn April 2019 a team of 10 cops from Bandra police had gone to arrest a most wanted criminal Abbas Irani at his house in Ambivali But a mob of 21 people including women pelted stones at them and drove them away critically injuring one cop In the ensuing chaos Irani escapedExactly after four years Irani was nabbed by crime branch sleuths of Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar MBVV police They went undercover in the locality as fruit sellers eatery owners and even an autorickshaw driver to conduct a recce When they found Irani they lifted him onto their shoulders and carried him across railway tracks into a waiting vehicle and arrested him ldquoThere are two MCOCA cases against Iranirdquo said API Sahuraj Ranaware whose team arrested Irani in April 2023Tere Bag Mai kya haicharas ganja to nahi haibag khol ke dikha these are the words used by fake cops to deceive people through the city According to Mumbai police records most fake cops chain snatchers and mobile snatchers are from Ambivali villageKalachowkie policeThe Kalachowkie police also held a 60yearold from the Ambivali village in July this year for posing as a cop The police team conducted an undercover operation for 7 days in Ambivali village posing as bag sellers cap and banana sellers They noted the accusedrsquos daily tableAccording to the police on July 4 this year accused Kabul Jafri and two accomplices posed as cops and stopped a78yearold woman at Lalbaug market stealing her 10 gm gold chain When she realised this she informed the Kalachowkie police The cops nabbed Jafri at a Chinese joint and dragged him from the railway tracks to the other side His family members and local people attacked them with weapons and officers received minor injuries However cops got away with JafriInputs from Shirish VaktaniaMore arrestsAmbulance surpriseRecently the MHB Colony police in Borivli apprehended two chainsnatchers from Ambivali One of the accused Sayyed Zakir was embroiled in 27 cases across the city Senior Inspector Sudhir Kudalkar Assistant Police Inspector Suryakant Pawar and API Akhilesh Bombe under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner of Police Zone XI Ajaykumar Bansal conducted several reconnaissance missions before the operationA team of 26 police personnel arrived at Ambivali in two ambulances and three cars around 4 pm on February 4 They spotted Zakir and an unidentified individual at a tea stall near the Imambada On noticing the Mumbai registration numbers on the ambulances the unidentified man fled Zakir unaware of what was happening was swiftly surrounded by the police After the vehicles moved a short distance a crowd began pelting stones at themThough one ambulance managed to get away the one carrying Zakir was surrounded by the mob Cops then formed a barrier in front of the ambulance and cleared a path for it This frenzied operation lasted only a few minutes during which some officers sustained injuriesWedding woesIn 2017 around 20 officers of the Mahatma Phule police in Kalyan posed as revellers and dragged an accused Taufiq Irani from his fatherrsquos house after he tied the knot at Ambivali The police had also danced on the stage as locals cheered on Sub Inspector Avinash Palde Constable Anup Kamat and another officer even shook a leg with a chainsnatcher at the functionIrani had been caught redhanded by pedestrians and handed over to the Tilak Nagar police in Dombivli and later released on bail He was then busted while committing the same crime in Vakola He served more than two years in jail under MCOCA and was then released on bail after which he went back to snatching chainsThe police had received information about the wedding reception and planned to identify the accused and arrest them on the spot but couldnrsquot make a move because of the large crowdShirish Vaktania