Cops pose as BMC staff to nab robbery suspect

The crime took place around 4.30 am on March 10,2011. The Pant Nagar area in Ghatkopar (East) was still in slumber. Only a few were awake at the early hour. One of them was security guard Ram Bhanudas Ravan,60,employed to guard Anil Kunj building in the locality. The ground floor of the building had several commercial outlets,including BB Jewellers.

Ravan had just completed a round of the building’s periphery and was walking towards the jewellery shop. He found that it had been broken into. Four men were emerging from the store with bags in their hands. They were armed with iron rods and were going towards an Indica car waiting for them.

“Oye! Kidhar jaata hai? (Hey,where are you going?)” Ravan called out,running towards the men,who saw him and stopped. The four men advanced towards him. Before Ravan could react,they started hitting him with the iron rods.

At the same time,constables Vikas Rajapure and Santosh Gaikwad with the Pant Nagar police,who were patrolling the area,passed by. On seeing the men assaulting Ravan,they sped towards the spot and stopped a short distance away. Dismounting from their bike,they ran towards the jewellery store,and one of the suspects,who saw them coming,whipped out a country-made gun and fired at Gaikwad,who ducked in the nick of time. The man then attacked Rajapure with an iron rod,fracturing his left hand. All four managed to reach their getaway vehicle and sped away.

Over the next one month,scores of suspects and informants were questioned and towards the end of the month,the police finally had a main suspect — the alleged gang leader, Kashinath Mudaliar alias Kashi.

“Mudaliar was a resident of Nehru Nagar but unlike his accomplices,he had not left the city because his six-month-old son had not been keeping well. He decided to stay in Cheetah Camp,Trombay,so that he could be in close touch with his family. All we knew was that he was in one of the hundreds of hutments that make up Cheetah Camp,” said sub-inspector Machhindra Jadhav,who was then with Pant Nagar police station.

“Cheetah Camp is known to be home to many history-sheeters. Such people often help criminals escape when a policeman is seen in the area. We formed a team of nine,dividing into sub-teams of three,” said an officer.

The first sub-team,consisting of two sub-inspectors and a woman constable,dressed n formal clothes and took notepads,pens and

briefcases along.

Posing as BMC officials,they went from house to house,telling residents that they were conducting a survey to check if the Pulse Polio Campaign being implemented by BMC was being implemented properly. While asking questions to whoever opened the door,the cops would sneak quick looks inside the house. Several residents invited them inside their houses for a glass of water,making their job easier.

Meanwhile,the second team,consisting of three policemen,dressed in lungis and vests,and sat outside tea shops and paan-beedi shops. If spoken to,they were prepared with a story about being a guest at a resident’s house,the ‘resident’ being their informant. The third team,also dressed in plain clothes,took up positions inside eateries or tea shops,from where they could see the second team.

After visiting nearly 50 houses,the first team spotted Mudaliar in a house far inside Cheetah Camp.

“An officer from the first team alerted one from the second team with a missed call. The officer on the second team gave a signal to the third team. All six then moved to the lane that they had seen the first team enter,where all nine policemen swooped in on the house,” said Jadhav.

After his arrest,Mudaliar gave up the identities and whereabouts of his accomplices. One of them,Vijayan Nadar,was subsequently arrested by L T Marg police in connection with a burglary case and was handed over to Pant Nagar police after he confessed to his role in the crime. The other three,Shankar Mudaliar,Krishna Mudaliar and Ram Moorthy ,were arrested from different areas in Mumbai over the next three months.

Ravan,who had suffered serious head and chest injuries,died in hospital on June 4,2011,84 days after the crime. A murder charge was then slapped on Mudaliar and his accomplices.

“We subsequently invoked MCOCA in the case. It is pending trial,” said Jadhav,who is now retired.

gautam.mengle@expressindia.com