Mumbai police averted a security scare by arresting three people carrying swords, button knives, iron rods and other sharp objects in a car with tinted glasses, near the city’s famous Taj Hotel.
The incident was reported on Sunday night when a traffic constable tried to stop a suspicious-looking car moving towards the hotel.
However, when the cop signalled the car to stop, instead of slowing the vehicle, the driver accelerated and sped away, according to a report by Times of India.
As per the report, the cop alerted Colaba police about the suspicious vehicle and chased it down to a dead end at Mukesh Mill Compound on a bike, where the cops overpowered the three occupants of the car.
Upon inspection of the vehicle, Police reportedly recovered two 27-inch and one 9-inch swords, three knives of different sizes, sticks, iron rods, and a button knife.
The three arrested accused were identified as Jaspal Singh Sandhu (40), Suraj Ganesh Mahatre (23) and Rajkamal Daler Singh (35) all residents of Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai. They were later reportedly charged under sections of the Arms Act and Motor Vehicle Act.
Quoting an officer, the TOI reported that on Sunday night Mumbai police constable Kiran Suryavanshi was on duty at Shahid Bhagat Singh Road in Colaba when around 9 pm, he spotted a white Ertiga car with its windshield fully tinted black.
The cop reportedly tried to stop the car to issue a traffic challan as it is illegal and punishable to use tinted glass, however, instead of stopping, the driver sped away.
But due to the alertness of the constable, the Colaba police team overpowered the miscreants within 5 to 10 minutes, who later told the officials that they were transporters from Kalamboli and had come to Mumbai for some transport-related work.
“One of the men said that these arms were for their protection and safety. He said earlier some people had attacked them and they couldn’t even defend themselves,” TOI quoted Vijay Hatiskar, senior inspector of Colaba police as saying.
The incident was reported at a time when several incidents of communal tension have been reported in Maharashtra since March. In the violence that has erupted in some of these cases, at least two people have been killed, while several others have been injured.
