Mumbai: How cops busted gang that pelted stones at cars in the dead of night

Illustration/Ravi Jadhav

1. Vasant Chavan, Shiv Sena's Palghar chief, is driving from Manor to Palghar around 10 pm on Thursday night, when a rock comes flying out of the shadows and hits his i20. He races away to alert the Palghar police.

2. Senior Inspector Kiran Kabadi sends his team to the spot by 10.30 pm. Several other motorists approach the cops about seven to eight robbers who are hiding in the dark jungle and throwing stones at passing vehicles to stop them. The stone-pelting has injured a biker, and broken the windows of several cars.

3. When the dacoits spot the police, they chuck rocks at them too. One of the crooks then opens fire at the cops.

4. When the police fire back, though, the robbers decide to make a run for it. The cops manage to catch one of the robbers. When the police back-up arrives, they comb the jungle for the rest of the crooks.

5. By the next morning, the cops find four more suspects in the jungle. But upon further investigation and interrogation, they realise that these four are not connected to the gang of robbers.

6. The police release the four men, but arrest the first robber for dacoity and attempt to murder. "We charged him under Sections 307, 397, 342 and 511 of the IPC and the Arms Act," said Kiran Kabadi, senior inspector at the Palghar police station.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates