Goons who posed as police officers held

Gang members donned safari suits, claimed were from Crime Branch

The sleuths of Lahori Gate police station have busted an interstate gang, which included a wanted criminal in a MCOCA case. Inspired by the Bollywood flick Special 26, the gang used to pose as SHO/Crime Branch/CBI officials and targeted innocent people.

The police said that the gang leader, Naasir, was secretly living in Delhi with a fake identity and operating the interstate gang. He has been recently arrested by the Special Staff of West District. With this arrest, the police has solved 10 cases.

Among the arrested are Hasan Aziz Sayyad, a wanted criminal in MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) and one juvenile. Both accused are members of the Irani gang headed by Nasir. The police teams were on their trail for quite some time.

According to police, the gang operated as a group of at least four members. Each of them used to be well dressed and at least two of them donned safari suits as worn by police officers in ‘mufti.’ They targeted elderly women

◗ The sleuths of Lahori Gate police station have busted an inter-state gang, which included a criminal wanted in a MCOCA case

and men, preferably walking down lonely streets/railway stations.

The gang landed in the police net after Chanderpal, a resident of Shalimar Garden, registered a complaint. He said that he had been approached by three persons on SPM Marg. The miscreants told him that they were from Delhi police and that they needed to check his bag. A little suspicious, he refused to comply. Thereafter, the men tried to snatch his bag but didn’t succeed.

On June 2, a picket had been placed on SPM Marg and the police teams were briefed to check suspicious persons who were on motorcycles. At about 5.15 pm, someone informed them of a quarrel that was going on near the Church Mission T-Point. Hearing this, the team rushed to the spot. There they met the complainant who narrated the whole incident. Of the four miscreants, two were nabbed on the spot along with their motorcycles. However, the other two succeed in fleeing the spot.

During questioning, the accused persons disclosed that the members would casually introduce themselves as police officers in civil uniform and accost people wearing/carrying jewelry articles or cash on the pretext of checking or security. By impersonating as SHO or Crime Branch/ CBI official, they used to allegedly deceive their target into parting with their valuables on the pretext of ensuring their safety.