Mumbai: A recently externed criminal walked down the lanes of Tilak Nagar with a machete in his hand on Saturday night causing panic among the pedestrians in the locality. He was stopped by a patrolling police team that sped to the spot and caught him after a short chase.
The incident occurred in the Panchasheel Nagar locality near Amar Mahal junction. According to the police, a patrolling team of the Tilak Nagar police station, led by sub-inspector Vijaysinh Deshmukh, was at the time in the area when they received a call from a local informant at around 11 pm.
“The informant told us that a history-sheeter, recently externed from city limits, was walking around with a machete in his hand in full public view near Panchsheel Nagar. We sped to the spot and stopped a little distance away so that we could observe from afar before moving in,” Deshmukh said.
Deshmukh and his team saw the man almost immediately and identified him as Anandmani Harijan alias Kattya (25). Police said that Harijan had seven to eight cases registered against him including theft, burglaries at night and assault, in light of which the externment order against him was issued on August 30.
When the police team drew close to him, Harijan allegedly started waving the machete around, almost hitting the people who were walking past. The passers-by started running away in panic, while Harijan stood in his place shouting, “Kattya bhai Panchsheel ka bhai hai! (Kattya is the don of Panchsheel).”
“On seeing us, Harijan started running and we chased him to the end of the SLR Bridge before we cornered him,” Deshmukh said.
He added that the team surrounded him from all sides and moved in, successfully snatching the machete out of his hands and overpowering him.
He was then taken to the police station, where the machete was seized as evidence. After confirming Harijan’s records, the police placed him under arrest, charging him under relevant sections of the Arms Act and the Maharashtra Police Act
Harijan was produced in a court on Sunday and remanded in judicial custody.