Mumbai Crime: Burqa-clad robber caught just as he was fleeing city

Illustration/Uday Mohite

While a robber on the run successfully masked his face with a burqa to escape arrest, he couldn't mask his masculinity. The JJ Marg police arrested the burqa-clad accused planning to flee the city after committing an offence on Tuesday night.

Alert cops, who figured that his 'walking style was not feminine', arrested Ayyaz Shaikh alias Ayyaz Pakistani, on Wednesday morning, within 12 hours of the crime being committed.

Shaikh and his three accomplices (who are yet to be arrested) accosted victim Abdul Aziz Chauhan at 8 pm on Tuesday at the Ali Omar street market. The gang of robbers picked up a fight with the "sophisticated-looking" Chauhan over a trivial issue, thrashed him on the busy south Mumbai street and snatched away cash of Rs 2,000 from his pocket.

New to the area

"The robbers targeted since he was new to the area and seemed like someone carrying lots of cash. Chauhan has registered a case against unknown people," said Avinash Dharmadhikari, divisional assistant commissioner of police. A team of police officers including PSI Rajendra Ghevdekar and PSI Annasaheb Gadekar soon began investigating the matter.

Upon inquiry, cops learnt that the accused had climbed onto the balcony of a nearby building, donned a burqa lying there, and wore a woman's slippers kept outside the flat to mask his gender and evade arrest. A local witness narrated this to the cops.

Shaikh was found to be a history-sheeter having committed a robbery in Malabar Hills in 2015 and in the JJ Marg area in 2012, and was scheduled to leave the city on Wednesday.

He had, however, switched his mobile phone off after Tuesday's robbery, making it difficult for the police to track him. His pictures in the police records too were years old and thus could not be used to identify him. "However, we had information that a burqa-clad man would reach the crime spot in the morning to collect the stolen money from his friends. So we were patrolling the area," said an officer privy to the investigation.

'Walking style was odd'

Shaikh arrived at the spot around 7 am in a taxi. "He had donned a burqa and had covered his face while he was seated in the taxi. Generally, females uncover their face while travelling in a taxi/train/car. Also, his walking style was not feminine," said the officer.

When he noticed the police following him, he began to run, thus giving the police ample evidence of being a man. Shaikh was immediately arrested and has been sent to police remand for four days.

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