Panaji: Normally associated with the legendary cafes with strong tea and khari (salted pastry), the word ‘Irani’ has been proving to be a headache for police in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa, for more unworthy reasons.
Arrest of members of the ‘Irani gang’ over the last week, believed to be comprising persons of Iranian descent, by Goa Police is expected to unravel scores of crimes in Goa and neighbouring states, by the gang using a virtual cocktail of modus operandi which includes chain or bag snatching after impersonating as policemen or CBI officials.
“We have arrested three men in all. They have confessed to crimes in Karnataka and Maharashtra too. It was a proper inter-state operation in the sense they would commit crimes in one state and lie low in another state for a while and then go off again,” a police official involved in the capture said.
The first arrest, that of Pune resident Asadullah Jafri, 40, from a cheap hotel in the beach village of Calangute, located 20 km from Panaji, in connection with snatching of a mangalsutra in Panaji last week, eventually led to two other arrests Friday evening. Besides admitting to the crime, Jafri broke down during interrogation and revealed the names of Sahil Khan and Kalandar Jafar, who were picked up by police from Pune Friday.
Chain snatchings, nearly a hundred of which have been reported in Goa over the last year and more, have been a bane for the state police. Drunk groups of tourists in Goa were one of the most sought after ‘target audience’ for this gang, whose members would confidently flash forged ID cards (a forged Goa Police ID card was also seized from the gang) and threaten them with offences like loitering or drunken driving and demand bribes.
Perhaps the police in the three states, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra could heave a sigh of relief, now that their ‘Irani’ nemesis appears to have been thwarted — at least for some time now. IANS
