Stones pelted at police team, vehicle wrecked while arresting accused from Irani Wadi

he police team called back up which arrived in a school minibus and eventually succeeded in taking the accused out of the notorious locality and bringing him to the city. The police were on the lookout for Firoz Fayyaz Khan, 62, after they identified him in CCTV footage of an incident reported to them.

MUMBAI: When a team from DN Nagar police went to Ambivali on Sunday to apprehend an accused from the infamous Irani Wadi in a cheating case, the locals did not allow the team to take the accused in their custody. Some of them even resorted to pelting stones at the policemen.

Stones pelted at police team, vehicle wrecked while arresting accused from Irani Wadi

The police team called back up which arrived in a school minibus and eventually succeeded in taking the accused out of the notorious locality and bringing him to the city.

The police were on the lookout for Firoz Fayyaz Khan, 62, after they identified him in CCTV footage of an incident reported to them.

Around 1 pm on August 10, three people had stopped a 21-year-old man outside a bank near Azad Nagar metro station saying they were policemen. They said they suspected him to be carrying drugs in his bag and wanted to check. During the ‘check’, one of the men stole ₹1 lakh that he had just withdrawn from the bank account of his employer to it to his office.

“When we saw the CCTV footage of the incident, we could identify Khan as one of the three accused. We started asking his whereabouts from our informers and were told that he had been in Ambivali for some time,” said an officer from DN Nagar police.

He added that Khan had several cases registered against him in various police stations of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane.

Rakesh Pawar, assistant police inspector and crime detection officer of the DN Nagar police, had received information regarding Khan’s movements near Ambivali railway station on Sunday.

Under the guidance of Shashikant Mane, assistant commissioner of police for DN Nagar division, Milind Kurde, senior inspector, and Wahid Pathan, police inspector (crime), a team of detection officers was sent to Ambivali.

“As the area is known to be hostile towards policemen, one woman officer was planted there in a burkha to keep us updated about the movements of the accused. Khan was seen getting a shave in a salon from where he was nabbed by policemen in plainclothes,” said an official from the team

“As news about his apprehension spread among the locals, some of them came towards our vehicle and started pelting stones at us,” said the official. He added that the two police personnel were injured in stone pelting, which completely wrecked the vehicle.

A reinforcement was called in which quickly arrived in a school minibus into which the accused was pushed, and the police team escaped without any major injury. After Khan was brought to the police station, he confessed to his involvement in the said crime.

“During Khan’s interrogation, we also got to know that he was involved in another recent crime of a similar nature registered with the Vile Parle police station. His arrest will lead to solving many crimes in various police stations under Mumbai Police Commissionerate,” said the officer.

Khan is currently remanded in police custody.