Thane panic call hoax; watchman lied to get even with motorist

Early Monday morning,watchman Durga Prasad (22) informed the Thane police that he had seen 10 men wearing Pathani suits and carrying rucksacks enter an unoccupied complex of seven buildings. Within an hour,nearly a 100 policemen,including senior officials of Thane police,surrounded the complex but found no one inside.

According to police,though they were conducting city-wide nakabandis and combing operations,they had a nagging doubt that something was amiss.

“Though we smelt a rat,we acted professionally and undertook necessary measures. The only question that remained unanswered was what did watchmen stand to gain by telling a serious lie to police. Hence,we continued with combing operations and nakabandis,” said Thane Police Commissioner K P Raghuvanshi.

Meanwhile,officials of the Kapurbawdi police station questioned Prasad and his associates Sandeep Sharma (20) and Shyam Kurmi (19) separately. By late Tuesday morning,police grew more suspicious as there were several discrepancies in the details of the “suspicious men” provided by the trio.

The three were then questioned intensively,and later,Prasad broke down and confessed to having spun a yarn,police said.

“On Monday morning,when Prasad was on duty outside Green Park society,he saw a motorist stop his vehicle and urinate on the sidewalk. Prasad tried to stop him but the motorist retorted whether the road was his ancestral property. This led to an argument. Prasad is acquainted with some of our personnel who patrol the area at night. Prasad thought that he would show the motorist how ‘well connected’ he was and called the control room and then one of our personnel,” said DCP Balasaheb Patil,Zone 5,Thane.

Raghuvanshi said,“Prasad got the idea from a drill that we had conducted at the same complex two months ago. The three will be booked for providing false information to public servants as well as for public mischief under sections 505 and 182 of the Indian Penal Code.”