Mumbai: 4 ‘Chaddi Banyan’ gang members arrested

The arrested hail from Osmanabad and were identified as Ashok Shinde, Sanjay Kale, Santosh Chavan and Rajendra Shinde. One of them was shot in the ankle. According to the police, the gang gets its name from robbing residences and persons after stripping themselves to their inner garments.

“Their modus operandi is to approach the target area in a tempo, strip off their clothes and enter and exit the building in a column walk. They have a cloth sack around the back, which contains clothes and weapons,” said a senior police officer.

Deshmane said the gang is armed with countrymade revolvers, large stones and choppers. “They are violent and not hesitant to attack or injure,” said Deshmane.
Borivali police was on the lookout for “several persons” early on Monday after the control room received a complaint that an elderly couple in Satya Dai Krupa Building in Borivali’s Satyanagar area had been attacked and robbed in the lobby after they returned from a wedding.

“The gang members attacked the woman. Her husband tried to defend her but was seriously injured on his head with large stones. They fled after robbing the woman of her bag and gold ornaments,” Deshmane added.

A patrol vehicle spotted about ten accused crossing the road. An officer who responded to the emergency call recollects seeing men move in a single file and entering an empty field on the other side of the road. “Beneath the road was a gutter where some accused hid themselves. We trapped the accused in the gutter by covering both ends, however, there was no light,” said a senior officer attached with Borivali police.

The first respondents were about 10 officers including Borivali senior police inspector Gunaji Sawant and divisional assistant commissioner of police S Pujari. “We could not see but were suddenly hit by stones. Six of our personnel were injured. They had a countrymade revolver with about five rounds. They shot first and we countered it. After their first round was fired the next two misfired,” said Sawant. As the there was lack of light, police said they aimed at feet level and not at chest level to avoid injuring officers on either ends of the gutter.

Sawant said they finally nabbed three accused and after combing the area at around 6 am found a fourth accused in a marshy jungle near Shimpoli temple.
Deshmane said the police is probing possibility of a local helping the accused study the area. “We have not found the tempo and are probing all prior cases registered against the accused,” Deshmane said. The gang is believed to have also struck a residence in MHB colony on Sunday.