Nagpur: In spite of a large posse of police personnel from all over Maharashtra present in the city for security cover for the Winter Assembly of legislative Assembly in the city, on December 14, 2016, the cops of Crime branch nabbed two terrorists who were trying to sneak into the city.
On December 15, 2016, a Muslim Morcha was slated to proceed to Vidhan Sabha to place their demands. At the same time Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and some senior Minister had a meeting scheduled in RSS Head Quarters. The air was thick with tension. However, the action of an alert Auto-rickshaw driver was worth appreciation.
At around 5:30 am on December 15, 2016, two persons who alighted at Nagpur Railway Station attired in typical Muslim attire the Patani attire, the cap, the scarf etc. They hired an auto-rickshaw in front of Nagpur Railway Station. They had on them an airbag, a camera and some things. They started by clicking a photograph of the auto-rickshaw driver. They then clicked the photo of the Nagpur Railway station.
After sitting in the auto-rickshaw, the suspicious duo started asking questions which raised the suspicion of the auto-rickshaw driver. They asked where is Indora, Where is Taj Baugh, Where is RSS Head Quarters, Where is Nitin Gadkari’s Bungalow, Where is the official residence of Chief Minister, What is your caste, Do the Hindu and the Muslim populace live in harmony in the city, How many Muslim people do you think will participate in the rally today, what is the condition of the city post-demonetization etc. The duo claimed that they were from Madhya Pradesh. The auto-rickshaw driver dropped them near the Main gate of Taj Baug. He left the place. However, the sticker or notice of Nagpur Police appealing people to report any suspicious person or thing on Telephone No 100.
So the auto-rickshaw driver called on telephone no 100 and gave the detailed information to the cops manning the telephones. Sensing the seriousness of the information, the Control Room immediately alerted all the cops of the area. The alert notice also reached the Sakahardhara Police Station, Ajni Police Station, Nandanwan Police Station, Kotwali Police Station etc which are in the vicinity of Taj Baug.
Within minutes, the entire Taj Baug area became a high alert zone and turned into what resembled a police cantonment area. The cops surrounded the entire premises.
The Beat-In-Charge Assistant Police Inspector Keshav Thakre along with his staff reached Taj Baug area. At the same time Police Inspector Anand Nerlekar too reached the Taj Baug area. The cops constituted into teams and started search operations.
API Keshav Thakre who knew that every Muslim will offers prayers (read Namaz), so he kept a watch of all the people who were entering or exiting from the Taj Baug Mosque.
Two persons who were coming out of the Mosque matched the description provided by the auto-rickshaw driver were spotted by API Keshav Thakre. Immediately API Thakre went behind them, kicked them in the hip so that they fall down and immediately the staff which accompanied him nabbed them. They were rushed outside and taken to Sakhardhara Police Station.
When frisked, the cops found an SLR camera, some documents, pen-drives, cloth and a railway ticket from Madhya Pradesh.
A session of questioning started with Senior Police Officials including Deputy Commissioner of Police Shridhar, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ranjan Sharma and Assistant Commissioner of Police Ravindra Kapgate monitoring through telephone. The suspicious-duo was subjected to intense questioning. The cops got all the details including their residential addresses, their place of work etc. The Senior Police officials then called their counterparts in Bhopal and Madhya Pradesh to verify all the claims made by the two suspicious persons. Their photographs were requested on mobile phone and after verifying from all angles, the cops found that the two persons had come from Madhya Pradesh to participate in the Muslim Morcha which was slated to be taken out today from Indora to Vidhan Bhavan.
In what could be termed as mistaken identity, the two persons were said to be Informers and intelligence collection agents of an Investigation agency run by central government. They were released immediately.
If the duo had not been apprehended in the Taj Baug area and had they participated in the rally and managed to flee the city, many heads could have rolled. Had they been actual terrorist with intension to cause chaos in the city during the Winter Session, things would have been very embarrassing for the city cops.
The auto-rickshaw driver is identified as Ramesh Bihari Chauragade a resident of Vaishali Nagar. Since he performed the role of an alert citizen, the cops of Sakhardhara Police Station including Assistant Commissioner of Police Ravindra Kapgate, Senior Police Inspector Anand Nerlekar and other cops felicitated him with a Shriphal and a shawl.
