Police form WhatsApp group to avoid confusion over custody of man booked in more than 74 cheating cases

Named ‘Asif Sayyed Irani TABA’, denoting who has the taba or custody of the accused, the WhatsApp group was formed by sub-inspector Amar Chede of Govandi police station after he began receiving calls from various police stations within minutes of putting out a wireless message about Irani’s arrest. The group comprises police officials from 11 different police stations of Mumbai and surrounding districts and was created to avoid chaos while seeking custody of the senior citizen who has been booked in over 74 cases in the state. So far, the police team have ascertained that the accused is currently wanted in 16 cases.

Chede and his team arrested Irani from Ambivli railway station on July 16 in a cheating case. Since then, officials had been awaiting their turn to seek his custody. So far, his custody has been taken by VB Nagar and Agripada police, an officer said. “Currently, he is with Pant Nagar police station and after they are done, the Nehru Nagar police station will be taking his custody,” Chede added. Apart from these, the accused is also wanted in cases registered at Vakola, Antop Hill, Azad Maidan, Ghatkopar, Kalachowkie, Nalasopara and Powai police stations. The investigating officers of these police stations are in the group.

“The benefit of having such a group is that we are aware under whose custody our arrested person is. Otherwise, usually the police team directly approaches the court and then takes the accused away without informing us,” Chede said.

Irani was arrested as he, along with his accomplice, had allegedly duped a 70-year-old woman in Chembur. The woman was walking to her son’s office when the accused allegedly approached her claiming that an incident had taken place further ahead. They then asked her to remove her gold ornaments. “He offered her a bag in which she could keep her ornaments safely but later when she checked, the valuables were missing. She then approached the police station and a case was registered,” said an officer.

During the course of investigation, the police checked the CCTV footage during which the accused was identified as Irani.

“Our informers told us that he comes to a tea shop daily. Accordingly, we laid a trap there and arrested him,” said Chede.