Is trapped when a mobile police van catches him red-handed.
Siraj Ismail Baig was once a police constable. He was with the local arms division of the Mumbai police. A few years ago, he was dismissed from service. So what did he do? He became a ‘CID officer’.
Pretending to be a CID officer, Baig, 40, used to extort money from people. He had two associates — Bashir and Qazi — helping him in his charade. The trio used to pick up ‘targets’ at the international airport, follow and intercept them on the highway, and extort money from them by claiming to be from the CID.
Their modus operandi came to light after Baig was recently arrested by a mobile squad of the Samta Nagar police station. Running a background check on him, the police found that Baig was a dismissed police constable.
Last week, the trio had picked up its targets — four members of a Gujarati family travelling in a Chevrolet Tavera — and followed them from the international airport.
An officer of Samta Nagar police station said, “The Gujarati family had just returned from abroad, and was on its way to Bharuch. Baig and his associates followed their vehicle, and intercepted it near Thakur Complex, Kandivli (East). Baig told the hassled travellers that they were from the CID, and would be checking their baggage. As the family members protested, Baig told them that they would be spared the check if they were ready to pay him Rs25,000.”
Fortunately for the Gujarati family, a patrol vehicle of the Samta Nagar police station was passing through the area.
“It was early morning. We saw the trio talking to some people sitting in a Tavera. As we approached them, Bashir and Qazi fled the spot. We managed to capture Baig. The family members told us that Baig and his men were demanding money from them, claiming to be from the CID,” the officer said.
The police have seized a fake police identity card from Baig. “The gang has looted several people using the same method. There are 13 cases of cheating registered against Baig at police stations across the city. He has told us that Bashir and Qazi too were dismissed policemen,” the officer said.
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