Police up against legal constraints: Mendonca

Speaking at a conference of high-level police officials earlier in the day in the wake of growing dacoity and shooting incidents, Mendonca said police officials "are hesitant to act with the recent High Court direction against them in the encounter cases."

Families of the victims of police encounters have filed petitions in the High Court demanding a detailed probe into the encounters, which they claimed were fake. "After the adverse court judgement, there is a feeling among police officials that law will not protect them and they are hesitant to act," Mendonca added.

Announcing the arrest of an alleged operative of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) networkat the press conference, he admitted that there was a spurt in the killings in the metropolis. "We do admit that comparatively there are more shootouts. But the common man is safe and only a certain category of people is being targeted," Mendonca said.

Shamshad Hanif Khan alias Rajkumar alias Raju was nabbed on Friday night during combing operations in the Bandra-Kurla complex, jointly conducted by Zone VII and the Crime Branch CID. Interrogation revealed that Khan had been staying at different places in the city. He also confessed to being an associate of R K Sama alias Javed Hussain, another ISI agent who was arrested on April 22 in South Mumbai, police said.

According to Mendonca, the arrested duo was supposedly working in collaboration with several other agents. Their gameplan was to foment sectarian violence in the city and orchestrate serial blasts in the city, he added.

Khan had visited Mumbai thrice before his eventual arrest, the police commissioner informed mediapersons.

Mendonca said Khan’smain functions were to handpick accomplices from Mumbai’s Muslim community, fuel "communal feelings" and train them in subversive activities including handling of explosive devices. The pre-poll blasts that rocked the city on February 27 killing four persons in Santacruz and Kandivali was also the handiwork of the ISI, he said.

Mendonca and his deputy Ranjit Singh Sharma refuted the idea that the springing of an ISI agent by the police after every shootout spree was a deliberate ploy to deflect attention from the worsening law and order situation in the city.

It may be recalled that three persons died and one was injured in two shootout incidents — including one in a hospital — on April 21. On April 22, the city police arrested Javed Hussain.

Similarly, Khan’s arrest was announced today, a day after three shootouts yesterday claimed three lives and injured one.

However, the officers maintained that the law and order scenario in the city was not as grim as it was made out to be.