Two sex workers and small-time thief stole Rs 25,000 from a businessman after which police had been looking for them for almost a week; tip-off from sandwich maker helped cops nab trio
On September 23, businessman Rajmani Dubey heads to Matunga railway station with the sex worker, who says that they need to pick up her sister. Illustration/Uday Mohite
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It was 2 am on October 1 and policemen from Shivaji Nagar police station were on their sixth day of investigating a robbery case, in which two women and a man had extorted Rs 25,000 from a businessman. They made largely unsuccessful inquiries at every station till Kalwa on the Central and Harbour lines, looking for the robbers.
Once there, he is robbed of Rs 25,000 by the sex worker, her mother and a thief. Then, he registers a case against the trio
Just then, a tip-off from a sandwich maker helped them nab the trio, two of whom are commercial sex workers.
The businessman was 46-year-old Rajmani Dubey, who was robbed on September 23 by a sex worker, another woman and a man. They had asked Dubey to cough up money and threatened him with a false molestation case.
On October 1, when cops are hunting for the accused, they get a tip-off about one of them from a sandwich maker and arrest the thief from Mulund railway station
Later, they stole Rs 15,000 in cash and his phone worth Rs 10,000. Dubey then went to Shivaji Park police station and registered a case.
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The next day, the sex workers are caught from Dadar railway station
CCTV footage
“We had formed 4 teams to search for the accused and had CCTV footage from Matunga railway station. Every team had snapshots of this footage. They would start their hunt at night, and continue it till the wee hours,” said Gangadhar Sonawane, senior inspector of Shivaji park police station, adding, “Teams started from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and made inquiries on every major station on Central and Harbour lines.”
This went on for five days, and yet there was no clue about the trio. On the sixth day of the investigation, the police teams reached Thane station.
“We informed the Thane GRP about the incident and sought help from them, they informed their sources to check on these accused,” said another officer.
Sandwich stall surprise
Assistant Inspector Sunil Khataokar, Sub Inspector Pankaj Bhople and Constable Sunita Kedari were at Thane station and thinking of visiting Mumbra. “It was around 2 am, we hadn’t had dinner, so we were looking for a food stall,” said Khataokar.
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At Thane East, under the SATIS, we found a sandwich maker. We ordered sandwiches and were talking about our next move. While handing over the sandwiches, the seller asked us whether he could help us.
We showed him the CCTV footage of the incident. After watching it two to three times, he identified a woman. He told us that he has seen her around Talaopali some days ago.”
Based on this tip-off, the police reached Talaopali, where a sex worker, after watching the footage, identified one of the women as Sana. She told the police that Sana and her mother live in Mumbra and are commercial sex workers. Meanwhile, they also got to know that the youngster in the footage is Ahmed Rahim Sheikh (24), a mobile phone thief. On October 1, they arrested him from Mulund station. His interrogation revealed that Sana and Saira Bano Sheikh were with him during the robbery. The following night, Sana and Saira Bano were arrested from Dadar station.
Trying to trap another
“They thought Dubey had not registered any complaint and were trying to trap another man. After looting someone, they would lie low for a fortnight and then trap someone again. They got only R15,000 from Dubey, and hence, surfaced within a week. If the sandwich maker hadn’t given us the hint, it would have been difficult to nab them,” said an officer. A case has been registered against the trio under sections 394 (robbery), 34 (common intention) of the IPC and they have been remanded in police custody after being produced in front of a magistrate court.
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