Cops posed as vendors to arrest ‘respected’ Dawood aide

It took some clever homework from Crime branch sleuths to arrest Sajid Usman Batliwala, the Dawood aide who managed to hoodwink the police and central agencies for 15 years by changing his identity. He was arrested on Wednesday.

After receiving a tip-off, Crime Branch sleuths summoned a few of those officers, especially the constables who had seen him and his family during his earlier years. These officers, posing as vegetable vendors, went to his home and identified his family.

Another important point which came to the police’s notice was the fact that the name of Batliwala’s daughter was same in the school records as what was already known to them. “It’s only after verifying everything that we picked him up,” said a senior official, who was part of the investigation.

The police were sceptical about arresting him, as any wrong move could have created a law-and-order problem in the area. Sources said that Batliwala, who has been wanted in murder cases including that of MLA Ramdas Naik and Sena leader RK Sagwekar, had earned goodwill of the locals by masquerading as a social activist and scribe.

Police sources said that after Naik’s murder, Batliwala fled to Nepal and then to Bangladesh, Dubai and finally to Karachi. However, after his fights with other gang members of Chhota Shakeel, he was forced to come back to India in 1998. Since then, he has been staying in Mira Road.