Beat marshal chases down man with stolen cash worth Rs19k

A 55-year old man was apprehended by the Byculla police beat marshals after they spotted him being chased by public at Mazgaon on Saturday. The accused had stolen Rs19,000 from a senior citizen at a nationalised bank branch. The arrested person has been identified as Raza Misa Irani, 55, a resident of Kalyan.

As per the police, the complainant left his Karjat home on Saturday at 7:30am to meet a friend. After getting down at Byculla railway station, he went to a nationalised bank's branch near the Sales Tax office around 10:30am to withdraw from his pension.

An officer from Byculla police station narrated the chain of events, saying: "When the victim was busy counting money at the counter, Irani approached him saying that one of the notes was counterfeit. Irani then took the bundle from the victim and pretended to point out the fake note. The victim suspected something amiss and asked for the bundle back, which is when Irani pushed him and tried to flee."

Seeing that, people present at the bank began chasing Irani. When Irani reached Maharana Pratap Chowk, a police beat marshal too joined the chase and managed to get hold of him at Shivdas Chapsi Marg.

Irani was then brought to the police station, where police recovered 300 notes of Rs500 denomination from his possession. He was arrested and booked under IPC Sections 420 (cheating) and 392 (punishment for robbery).

The officer added: "We are also probing whether Irani has a criminal background and if he has committed similar offences in the past."