26 September,2016 06:10 PM IST | | mid-day online correspondent
Five drunk men from Bhandup tried to bluff their way into not paying the full fare for a taxi ride by claiming them were terrorists. But, the cabbie was smart enough not to fall for the trap
Five drunk men from Bhandup tried to bluff their way into not paying the full fare for a taxi ride by claiming them were terrorists. But, the cabbie was smart enough not to fall for the trap.
The five men have been identified as Jitu Jha, 30, Pradeep Pisal, 39, Sayed Shikalkal, 35, Nagendra Yadav, 25, and Akhilesh Ojha, 29, Mumbai Mirror reported.
At around 12.40 am on Sunday, the five men boarded the taxi driven by one Sandeep Sakpal. Their destination was Thane Civil Hospital, where Jitu's wife was admitted. "They were clearly drunk and I wanted to refuse them, but they turned aggressive and said they needed to be at the hospital. I agreed after they said they'll board another cab in Mulund," Sakpal was quoted as saying by Mumbai Mirror.
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Once in the taxi, all five started talking about how they were planning to plant bombs.
"They said they had conducted a recce of Uran, and now they were surveying areas in Thane and Mumbai. One of them said, 'Let's not explode the bomb at the civil hospital. Instead, let's look for a bigger place'. I knew they were bluffing because even I realise terrorists won't openly talk about their plans," Sakpal told Mumbai Mirror. After getting off outside the taxi, the five refused to pay the full fare. They told the driver, "Uran mein kya hua maloom hai na?' That's when I decided to teach them a lesson." Sakpal drove them to the Thane Nagar Police Station.
Later, police visited the hospital. However, the five had left by then. They were then identified in the CCTV cameras. The cops circulated the pictures across all police stations, and the five pranksters were arrested at around 3 am.
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An officer from Thane Nagar Police Station told Mumbai Mirror, "They sheepishly admitted that they posed as terrorists to scare the taxi driver into not demanding fare money from them."
The five have been booked under the Indian Penal Code Section 505 (1) (B) for "causing fear or alarm among public".
