Excerpt from Indian Express, reported by Mustafa Plumber,Mustafa Plumber on Jul 30, 2010 Read Full Article

The Crime Branch probe into the murder of Farid Tanasha, a close aide of gangster Chhota Rajan, has revealed that the alleged conspirators, Bharat Nepali and Vijay Shetty, were reportedly paid Rs 90 lakh to commit the crime at Tanasha’s Chembur house on June 2 this year.

The police said the hefty expenses were incurred because Tanasha was heavily guarded and accurate planning was required for the murder.

Police said the amount was paid by co-accused and small-time builder Dattatray Yashwant Bhakre in instalments, ostensibly for use by Nepali to force out tenants of a Chembur building, where Bhakre reportedly wanted to undertake a redevelopment project. A senior crime branch officer said, “The money spent on the execution of murder was distributed at different levels for different purposes like purchase of motorcycles for doing a recce, purchasing SIM cards, mobile phone and also arranging accommodation for shooters hired from Uttar Pradesh.”

Excerpt from Hindustan Times, reported by Shahkar Abidi & Yashshri Soman, on July 28, 2010: Read Full Article

‘We approached college first’ :
The family of the 17-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped on July 21 by her senior from the Chembur college they studied in, first approached the college and asked for action to be taken against the boy.

The girl has alleged that the 20-year-old boy, a third year student of the Bachelor of Management Studies, raped her at his house in Chembur Camp when she had gone there to work on a college project. They had met on a social networking site.

Sources close to the girl’s family said they first approached authorities at Vivekanand Education Society’s College of Arts Science and Commerce, seeking action against the boy, since he too was their student.

Girl has cooked up story: Boy’s dad
Excerpt from Hindustan Times, on July 28, 2010: Read Full Article
The father of the 20-year-old college student accused of raping his junior on July 21 has alleged that the victim had cooked up a story to malign their family. “My son is innocent and I am 100 per cent sure about this,” the boy’s father told HT on Tuesday. He denied the girl visited his home on the night of the alleged crime.

The boy’s father, who works as a peon, also denied that his family was away on a pilgrimage when the alleged rape took place. “We were very much at home on that day,” he said.
“We are poor people. My son can never commit such a heinous crime. His only fault was he befriended a rich girl.”

Excerpt from TOI, reported by V Narayan, on Jul 28, 2010 : Read Full Article

Deonar police have launched a manhunt for an unidentified autorickshaw driver for allegedly abducting and molesting a 10-year-old school girl. The incident occurred in broad daylight on Monday afternoon when the autorickshaw driver offered the victim a lift at Govandi railway station and promised to drop her near her residence at Deonar Municipal Colony. He committed the offence at a lonely stretch on the main road.

An investigator said the culprit approached the minor girl saying that he knew her mother. “She did not realise the consequences of trusting an unknown person,” a senior Deonar police

As reported by PTI on July 26, 2010

A 20-year-old student allegedly raped his college mate at his residence in suburban Chembur at knifepoint, police said today.

The student, identified as Pankaj Mishra, 20, a student of the Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) course, was arrested yesterday from his residence after the 17-year-old girl lodged a complaint, BB Rathod, senior inspector at the Chembur police station, said.

Mishra and the victim, a first-year student of a mass media course, both study in Vivekanand College in Chembur.

The accused was booked for rape (section 376 of the Indian Penal Code), wrongful restraint (section 341), and wrongful confinement (section 342).

According to the police, Mishra and the victim became friends through Facebook in the second week of June. Later, they discovered that they were studying in the same college.

“As they met in college later, they became good friends. The victim told Mishra that she had to complete one project assigned by her professor in the class. Mishra called her to his home on July 20 saying he had done similar projects when he was in the first year and he could help her in completing it. She went to his house on that day,” Rathod added.

The next day again, she went to the accused’s house but Mishra threatened her with a knife to stay back when she wanted to leave in the evening, the police said.

At around 11.30 pm, Mishra sexually abused her and let her go home the next day, the police said.

The victim told her parents, who work in separate private firms, how the accused threatened her with a knife and sexually abused her, the police said, adding that the victim lodged the complaint yesterday.

Mishra’s father works in the same college, police said adding that the victim was taken to Nagpada police hospital for a medical examination and that further a probe was on.

Excerpt from DNA, reported by Menaka Rao on July 18, 2010: Read Full Article

Two accused caught with ganja worth over a lakh of rupees will go scot-free because of the technical blunders committed by the investigating officer, wrote a public prosecutor to the concerned senior police officer this week. The prosecutor has asked the police to be more careful about the technicalities of the law.
The ganja was seized at Mankhurd on December 27, 2006. The duo was apprehended by Trombay police sub-inspector (PSI) DB Bajgalkar while he was patrolling the area. Bajgalkar filed the first information report (FIR) in the case.

On Tuesday, Bajgalkar deposed before the court. Additional public prosecutor Vijaylaxmi Nadar said, “This is the first time I’veseen the PSI conduct the entire investigation. A PSI has no right to do this in a narcotics case. How are we supposed to conduct matters like these?” she said

As reported in MID-DAY by  Shiva Devnath on 2010-07-09

A reputed developer and 60 others beat up a supervisor carrying out a survey in Chembur.
In yet another case of violent scuffles over a Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) project, a reputed builder was arrested late last night for allegedly attacking a supervisor in Chembur.

The arrested accused, Chinai Gauda, who is the director of Srishti Developers, along with 60 others went on a rampage and attacked Deshpal Singh (47) while he was carrying out a survey on an SRA project (CTS no. 200) near Santu Garden, the police said.

Excerpt from TOI, reported by V Narayan, on Jul 4, 2010: Read Full Article

Locals’ presence of mind helped the RCF police nab a 48-year-old herbal products distributor for Friday’s abduction and murder of a Chembur-based jeweller. The arrested accused, Nitin Parab, hails from a well-to-do family and his wife is employed with a bank. Parab, along with his accomplice-Arif Khan (36)-also robbed the victim, Pawankumar Jain, of gold ornaments worth Rs 1.5 lakh. Cops have now launched a manhunt for Khan, who is on the run. Parab was Jain’s partner in a real-estate business which the two had started a few years ago.

According to the police, Khan had borrowed Rs 1 lakh from Parab to get himself a job in Dubai. When Khan failed to repay the amount, Parab asked him to help him rob Jain. Parab knew that Jain carried some of the gold ornaments home after closing his shop at night. On June 20, the duo decided to abduct and rob Jain. Parab even purchased a second-hand Maruti for Rs 15,000 to execute the crime, said a police officer. They had planned to dump the vehicle outside city limits after robbing Jain.

Excerpt from Mumbai Mirror , reported by Nazia Sayed On Tuesday, June 01, 2010 : Read Full Article

Police come up with novel idea after meeting dead end in Kurla rape cases.

After the trail following the Kurla rapist – who molested and murdered two minor girls and sexually assaulted three others in their jurisdiction – met a dead end, various senior inspectors and DCPs have come up with a new idea.

A board in Deonar lists cellphone numbers of senior inspectors; the number of Sanjay Banerjee (right), DCP Zone XI, has also been displayed

They are now circulating their mobile numbers through local cable networks, stickers and posters in their area, so that people come up with information regarding crimes happening in their neighbourhoods.

Senior inspectors of Deonar, Nehru Nagar, Tilaknagar, Chembur, Mankhurd and various others have come forward to put up posters in their respective areas giving out their mobile numbers and requesting people to dial them if they smell something fishy.

According to the cops, this exercise is proving rather handy as the police end up getting first-hand information about anything taking place in the city.

Senior Inspector of Kasturba Marg Police Station, Rajendra Thakkur, has shot a two-minute advertisement that keeps airing every half hour on the local cable network.

In the commercial, he gives a small speech regarding alertness and security, then ends with his own precious cellphone number so that people watching this can get an idea as to which number to dial, aside from 100, something that has a nefarious reputation for delay and inefficiency.

“It’s easy for us to relate to the people in this manner. Whenever someone dials 100, he has to wait for a long time to get a proper response.

Thus a lot of information is missed in the process, but if anyone has our direct number, it becomes easier for the complainant to get in touch with us directly,” said Thakkur.

He further added, “I myself have solved some interesting cases just because the informer or the complainant called me directly on my mobile without the interference of any third party.

Excerpt from Hindustan Times on 25th May 2010: Read Full Article

A 23-year-old autorickshaw driver was allegedly murdered by his friend in Govandi on Sunday night, after he did not give the accused money to buy liquor.

This is the fourth murder reported in the area in the last 10 days.

The police said the incident happened in Baiganwadi area of Shivaji Nagar, Govandi, when the victim Khwaja Syed (23), was going home with his mother after attending a wedding.

Syed’s friend Iqbal Sheikh (24) who was in an inebriated condition was accompanying them home, the officials said.

As reported in TOI by  Mayank Soni, on  May 22, 2010 .. read full story

An alert patrol team of Mankhurd police station arrested a resident of Lallubhai Compound as he was fleeing after murdering his neighbour on Thursday night.

The accused, Dhanraj Laxman Das (21), lives on the fifth floor of Shree Sai Society. According to the police, around 11:45 pm on Thursday, the victim Yusuf Hakim Shaikh (20), was shouting at his brother, who was standing at the window of their fourth floor residence. Shaikh was standing in the building compound with his mother.

An officer from Mankhurd police station said, “Das, who had had an argument with Shaikh the day before, was standing at the window of his apartment. He thought that Shaikh was yelling at him and ran down with a knife. Das stabbed Shaikh in front of his mother and fled,” the officer said.