Cops become beggars to capture serial killer

Somendra Sharma/Nikhil Dixit

MUMBAI: Police are forming a team of eight to 10 officers, who will be disguised as beggars and drug addicts, to try and capture the serial killer known as the ‘beer man’.

The men will be positioned between Churchgate and Marine Lines, the killer’s area of operation so far. “The undercover cops will be given adequate protection with policemen in civil clothes keeping a watch on them,” an officer from the Marine Drive police station said.

“We are working on a plan,” Joint Commissioner of Police (law and order) Arup Patnaik told DNA. “The constables and lower-rung officers have been sensitised about it. But we would not like to disclose our strategies.”

Police believe the killings could be the handiwork of more than one person. “Most of the victims are people who could have easily put up a fight with one man,” the officer explained.

A curious aspect of the killings is that the criminal(s) left no clues about the victims. Of the four victims so far, police have been able to identify only one.