14 July,2015 06:43 AM IST | | Sagar Rajput
The two women had been visiting Mumbai during the month of Ramzan for the last three years; would threaten shopkeepers of falsely implicating them in molestation cases whenever caught
You can call it divine justice. Two Ajmer-based women had a free-run for the last three years, as they went about stealing from shopkeepers in the busy lanes of Mohammed Ali Road during the month of Ramzan.
The duo was so shrewd that if they ever got caught in the act they would accuse the shopkeeper of molesting them and threaten to file a police case. Fearing trouble, the shopkeeper would let them go. However, their luck ran out on Friday night.
The officials from Pydhonie police station caught the two women red-handed and arrested them on Friday night for shoplifting. Identified as Ramiza Saleem Shaikh (35) and Sabiha Banu Shaikh (25), the duo had been travelling from Ajmer to the city for the last three years with the sole purpose of shoplifting during the month of Ramzan.
Senior Inspector Sunil Kavlekar from Pydhonie police station said, "The accused have been visiting and shoplifting in Mumbai for the last three years. They would travel from Ajmer and stay at cheap hotels in Kalyan during daytime. In the evenings, they would take a cab till Mohammed Ali Road."
Narrating their modus operandi, Kavlekar said they would threaten the owner of the shop they had targeted of filing a false case against him of molesting them. Scared of the police action and social stigma, the shopkeepers would let them walk free.
Red-handed
However, the duo was nabbed red-handed stealing dress pieces from the shop owned by Mohammed Ansari on Friday evening. As usual, the accused created a ruckus after being nabbed and gathered a crowd to gain its sympathy. This, however, attracted the attention of the patrolling police officers, who took Ansari and the two women to the police station.
"After Ansari caught them stealing, the two threatened him that they would go to the police and claim that he touched their private parts. But the duo was busted after we recovered three dress pieces they had hidden in their burqas," said a police officer.
The two were booked under Sections 379 (punishment for theft) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and were produced in the local court, which remanded them in judicial custody.
