Two traffic constables and a traffic warden apprehended four persons when they received a complaint that the quartet was robbing commuters near Pichola Hotel on Aundh Road on Tuesday at 11 pm. The accused, who were armed with sharp objects, were nabbed after a hot chase.
The four were handed over to officials of the Chatushringi police station. Of the four, two were identified as Rahul Mevati (20) and Shashikant Tirupati Rathod (19). The other two are juveniles.
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Fearless: Traffic Constables Saurabh Katke and Irfan Pathan and traffic warden Mukhtar Shaikh. The trio was felicitated for their bravery
“The arrested (men) and detained (juveniles) are history-sheeters and have several cases of theft and road robberies registered against them at the Bhosari MIDC police station,” Police Inspector (Crime) Subhash Nikam of Chatushringi police station said.
Police officials said the accused would threaten their victims with sharp objects and take away valuables like cellphones, watches and debit and credit cards. The officials said they recovered 10 cellphones and nine debit and credit cards from the accused.
“We were manning the traffic junction at Bremen Chowk in Aundh, when a biker approached us and complained that some people were threatening commuters near Pichola Hotel with sharp objects and taking away their valuables,” Saurabh Katke, a traffic constable with the Chatushringi traffic division, said.
Kakte said he alerted Traffic Constable Irfan Pathan and traffic warden Mukhtar Shaikh, and the trio rushed to the spot.
“After reaching there, we saw that two people were trying to threaten a biker with a sharp object. But they fled the spot the moment they spotted us. Two of their accomplices, who were on the other side of the road, too made away from the spot,” Katke said.
Traffic Constable Pathan said they then chased the accused and apprehended them near Bremen Chowk. “One of the suspects tried to threaten me with his sharp weapon, but I overpowered him,” Pathan said.
In the meantime, Katke and Shaikh chased the other three and nabbed them. “Efforts of our traffic cops and warden are commendable as they fought four robbers without any weapon, and nabbed them by showing great valour,” DCP (Traffic) Vishwas Pandhare said.
“We have directed all our traffic divisions to help local police stations and the Crime Branch in crime detection. Work done by Katke, Pathan and Shaikh has proven that even traffic division can help in crime detection.” The arrested adults were booked under Sections 392 and 34 of the IPC and will be produced in the court today. The juveniles will be produced in the juvenile court today.u00a0
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