News Analysis India

Tag: Mumbai Police

  • Mumbai Police bust illegal call centre in Bihar; minor among six held

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Mumbai Police have busted a Bihar-based illegal call centre whose operators duped people in the name of coronavirus, and arrested five persons, one of them a BTech graduate, and detained a minor who were part of the racket, an official said on Tuesday.

    The cyber cell of the Mumbai police’s crime branch unearthed the racket during an investigation into a complaint lodged by a city resident who was cheated, he said.

    Those apprehended were allegedly running the fake call centre and duping people by using the COVID-19 pandemic as bait, the official said.

    The accused suspected to have cheated at least 210 people across the country till now, he said.

    According to the official, the arrested accused were identifed as Dharmajay Kumar, Dhananjay Kumar, Shrawan Paswan, Nitish Kumar and Suman Kumar, while their sixth accomplice was a minor (age not disclosed) who has been detained.

    Of them, one was a BTech graduate, while one had BEd degree, he said.

    The police traced the gang’s 32 bank accounts, where Rs 60 lakh worth of transactions had taken place, and also seized 100 SIM cards procured from Kolkata, the official added.

    Explaining the modus operandi of the gang, the official said, its members circulate their phone numbers of different social media platforms to lure unsuspecting people.

    On June 16, the cyber police station at Bandra Kurla Complex here received a complaint where a man was duped while ordering online Remdesivir, an antiviral drug used to treat severe COVID-19 patients, he said.

    During the investigation, the crime branch found the racket was linked to a call centre in Bihar Sharif, the headquarters of Nalanda district in Bihar, the official said.

    These people had been involved in duping people since over a year and used people’s fear and crisis for their own monetary benefit, he said.

  • ‘Antilia’ bomb scare case: Ex-cop Pradeep Sharma sent in judicial custody till July 12

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: A special NIA court here on Monday remanded former ‘encounter specialist’ police officer Pradeep Sharma in judicial custody till July 12 in the case of an explosives-laden vehicle found near the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani and the murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran.

    Sharma was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) last week.

    He was on Monday produced before the court which sent him in judicial custody till July 12 as no further remand was sought by the probe agency.

    Two other accused in the case, Santosh Shelar and Anand Jadhav, who were arrested by the NIA from suburban Malad on June 11, were also sent in judicial custody till July 12.

    The central agency had earlier arrested police officers Sachin Waze, Riyazuddin Kazi and Sunil Mane, following which they were dismissed from service.

    The NIA had also arrested former police constable Vinayak Shinde and cricket bookie Naresh Gor in connection with the case.

    Sharma had allegedly helped Waze in destroying evidence in the case, sources earlier said, adding that he was involved in hatching the conspiracy and planning, as well as executing the murder of Hiran with the help of his men.

    An explosives-laden SUV was found abandoned near Ambani’s residence ‘Antilia’ in south Mumbai on February 25 this year.

    Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran, who had claimed that he was in possession of the vehicle, was found dead in a creek in Mumbra on March 5.

  • Sachin Waze collected Rs 4.7-crore from bar owners, handed over to Anil Deshmukh aide: ED

    Waze informed the bar owners and managers that this money quot;will go to No.1 and crime branch and social service branch of Mumbai Police quot;.

  • Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Iqbal Kaskar held by NCB in drugs case

    By PTI
    MUNBAI: The Narcotics Control Bureau on Wednesday arrested Iqbal Kaskar, the brother of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, in a drugs case, an NCB official said.

    Kaskar’s involvement was found in connection with the seizure of 15 kg of hashish, a contraband, following which he was taken into custody, the official said without divulging any further details.

    In 2017, Kaskar was arrested by police in neighbouring Thane in an extortion case.

    On Wednesday, after his arrest in the drugs case, he was brought to the NCB’s office at Ballard Estate in south Mumbai, the official said.

    The NCB earlier this year busted a drug syndicate at Nagpada in Mumbai which was run by an associate of Dawood Ibrahim.

    Kaskar was deported from the United Arab Emirates in 2003.

    He was said to be operating his brother’s real estate business in Mumbai.

    The Thane police had earlier booked him under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime (MCOCA) Act.

  • Former Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh fined Rs 5,000 for not appearing before commission

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: A commission headed by a retired High Court judge on Tuesday imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh for not appearing before it despite a summons.

    The Maharashtra government in March this year formed a one-member commission of Justice (retd) Kailash Uttamchand Chandiwal to probe corruption allegations leveled by Singh against then state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

    Days after he was shunted out as Mumbai police commissioner and transferred to Home Guards, Singh claimed in a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray that Deshmukh used to ask police officers to collect money from restaurant and bar owners in Mumbai.

    Deshmukh, an NCP leader, denied the allegations.

    Singh did not appear before the commission on Tuesday and his lawyer filed an application saying that the summons was not served to him.

    The commission, however, held that the summons had been duly served, and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on the IPS officer, to be deposited in the Chief Minister’s Covid Relief Fund, said a government lawyer.

    He had not appeared on a previous occasion too, the lawyer added.

    The commission, which has been given six months by the state government to submit its report, will hold a hearing on Wednesday too, he said.

  • Man sends threat email of bomb at Maharashtra secretariat, arrested

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: A 53-year-old man, upset over his child not getting admission in a school, sent an e-mail to the Maharashtra government claiming a bomb was placed in the state secretariat, which later turned out to be a hoax, police said on Tuesday.

    The incident took place on Monday following which the accused, identified as Shailesh Shinde, was arrested from his residence in Ghorpadi area of Pune.

    Shinde was upset over his child not getting admission in a school and had sent a few e-mails complaining about the school to the Chief Minister’s Office at the ‘Mantralaya’ (state secretariat), he said.

    As he did not get any response to his mails, he sent a message on the state Home department’s e-mail ID wherein he mentioned that a bomb was placed in the Mantralaya, the official said.

    The authorities alerted the police following which a Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) squad reached the secretariat and conducted a search, but did not find anything suspicious, he said.

    While investigating the matter, the police found the e-mail was sent from Pune, the official said, adding that Shinde was subsequently apprehended by Mundhwa police in Pune.

    He was brought to Mumbai on Monday evening and placed under arrest after being questioned, the official said.

    An offence was registered at the Marine Drive police station, he said.

  • Sinking of barge, tugboat: 52 bodies handed over to families, 27 yet unidentified

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Mumbai Police has handed over the bodies of 52 crew members who died after barge P305 and tugboat Varprada sank off the Mumbai coast during cyclone Tauktae while 27 bodies are yet to be identified, an official said on Wednesday.

    The Navy on Tuesday evening recovered another eight bodies near Alibag coast in neighbouring Raigad district, which were handed over to Mumbai Police and sent for autopsy, he said.

    Earlier, the Navy had handed over the bodies of 71 victims to the city police who has registered an Accidental Death Report and is probing what led to the tragedy.

    As many as 188 crew members from both the vessels were rescued by the Navy and Coast Guard.

    Of total 79 recovered bodies, 52 were identified and handed over by the police to the family members, while 27 bodies were yet to be identified, the official said.

    Police are taking help of forensic science laboratories to identify the bodies through DNA matching, he added.

    P305 and Varprada — both support vessels working for the state-run ONGC’s offshore oilfields near Mumbai — bore the brunt of cyclone Tauktae which made landfall on Gujarat coast on May 17.

    The chief engineer of the barge P305 had alleged in his statement to the police that its captain did not take the cyclone warning seriously.

    The police has so far recorded the statements of eight surviving crew members.

  • HC asks police not to arrest IPS officer Param Bir Singh in atrocities case till May 24

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the police not to arrest former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh in a case under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act till May 24.

    A division bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and S P Tavade on late Friday night heard a petition filed by Singh, seeking to quash the FIR lodged against him and demanding a CBI probe into the case.

    While Singh’s counsel claimed that the FIR was a backlash over his allegations of corruption against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, the government said the FIR was registered as the complaint disclosed commission of offence.

    The bench, however, questioned the timing of the FIR and said, “We do not understand why all this after Param Bir Singh has had a fallout with the government.”

    After hearing the parties at length for over an hour, the court at midnight said it now ceases to be a vacation bench, and hence the matter would have to be heard on Monday.

    “Since the matter is part heard, the State of Maharashtra in the meantime shall not arrest Param Bir Singh till the next date of hearing,” the court said.

    Singh’s counsel Mahesh Jethmalani argued that the FIRs lodged against Singh was a result of the letter the former Mumbai commissioner of police wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister against Deshmukh.

    “There is not a shred of evidence against Singh in this case. The state is just vindictive towards someone who has proved to be inconvenient to them. A disgruntled person, who is already accused in several cases, is picked up by the government only to implicate Singh,” Jethmalani said.

    He further argued that the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act cannot be attracted unless the offense is committed due to caste motivations.

    Senior counsel Darius Khambata, appearing for the Maharashtra government, alleged that Singh indulged in corrupt practices.

    “Singh tried to get the complainant (Bhimrao Ghadge) do his dirty work and when he refused, Singh got him suspended,” he argued.

    The FIR is based on a complaint by police inspector Ghadge, now posted at Akola in Maharashtra.

    Ghadge made a series of allegations of corruption against Singh and other officers when Singh was posted in Thane.

    The IPS officer pressured him to drop the names of some persons from a case and when he refused, Singh framed him up in false cases, the FIR, now transferred to Thane, claimed.

  • Corruption complaint filed against former Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh, two others

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: A complaint has been filed against former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh, former police officer Pradeep Sharma and inspector Rajkumar Kothmire with the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) for alleged extortion and corruption, an official said on Friday.

    The complaint was filed by Virar-based builder Mayuresh Raut with the Director General of ACB on Wednesday, he said.

    These officers extorted money, cars, property and documents from him when Singh was Thane police commissioner, the complainant alleged.

    The ACB has summoned Raut to record his statement at its Thane office on Monday, sources said.

    Raut had earlier leveled allegations of corruption in a separate complaint against Sharma, former senior police inspector of the Anti Extortion Cell (AEC), Thane, seeking probe into his assets.

    A similar complaint was also filed against Kothmire on May 7 and a collective complaint mentioning the names of three officers including IPS officer Param Bir Singh was filed on Wednesday, sources said.

    Singh was shunted out as Mumbai commissioner and transferred to Home Guard after the arrest of police officer Sachin Waze in the Ambani residence bomb scare case.

    Singh later made allegations of corruption against then Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, who subsequently resigned.

  • CID records Mumbai cop’s statement over his charges against Param Bir Singh

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Wednesday recorded the statement of police inspector Bhimrao Ghadge here in connection with the allegations levelled by him against former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh, sources said.

    Ghadge, who is posted at Akola, appeared before the CID officials, where his statement was recorded for around two hours, they said.

    He provided information about the FIR, which was registered last month against 33 persons, including Singh, other police officials and private persons.

    In his complaint, Ghadge had levelled serious allegations against Singh, who had also worked as Thane police commissioner.

    Ghadge, who was posted in Thane police commissionerate during 2015-2018, had alleged that during his tenure, several officers there under Singh had indulged in various acts of corruption.

    Ghadge also informed the CID officials about the false cases registered against him, sources said, adding that he has been called again on Thursday.