Sticker on car lock led cops to believe timber merchant stole it

A broken lock of his car gave timber merchant Akram Khan anxious moments on Tuesday after being chased by six police informers on a bike. The police said he had to call the local corporator to seek protection.

A broken lock of his car gave timber merchant Akram Khan anxious moments on Tuesday after being chased by six police informers on a bike. The police said he had to call the local corporator to seek protection.

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According to the police, the six police informers chasing Khan’s vehicle on bikes, suspected it to be stolen because it had a sticker across the lock on the back door. “Of late, several stolen cars have been tracked down, by looking out for a sticker that is put over the spot where the car’s lock is meant to be,” said an officer requesting anonymity.

He explained that the accused new modus operandi to steal cars is to break the locks by pulling it out of the door’s socket. “Till the time they put a new lock, the accused cover the hole with a sticker,” said the officer.

This was the reason why the six police informers called up the Bandra unit of the crime branch, when they saw Khan’s car.

Khan then halted his car opposite corporator Kaptan Malik’s officer at LBS road in Kurla and called Malik for help. Two crime branch officers ‘tipped off’ by the informers also reached there.

The police said an argument broke out between Malik and the crime branch officers with the former alleging that one of the officers threatened him with a gun.

Amidst all this chaos, the local police reached the spot and took everyone to the police station. Assistant commissioner of police Prabhakar Satam said, “No complaint has been registered.”