Author: Vinod Kumar Menon
Publication: Mid Day
Date: April 19, 2003
Introduction: Police wait for them
to leave village to nab them for Mulund blast
It's a game of cat and mouse between
the police and the villagers of Borivali, in Bhiwandi taluka, Thane district.
Almost all the 7,000-odd Muslims
in the village have been too afraid to move out of their homes.
The village has come under the microscope
of authorities following the sensational events that led to the arrest
of villager Saquib Nachan for alleged involvement in the March 13 terrorist
blast at Mulund.
Meanwhile, Padgha Police, under
whose jurisdiction Borivali village falls, seem in turn to be wary of entering
the village
An officer with the Mumbai Crime
Branch said that after March 27, when a village mob thwarted Nachan's arrest,
police are thinking twice about entering Borivali village without adequate
force.
He, however, played down the police
fear by saying that they just didn't want untoward incidents during mob
scenes.
Whatever the reason, police have
resorted to waiting for 'wanted' villagers to leave home ground, before
moving in for the kill and taking them in. They have drawn up a list of
15 villagers, who allegedly prevented police from arresting Nachan.
Soban Mulla, one of these 15 absconders,
said, "They haven't come to arrest me yet, but I am not stepping out of
my house."
However, the game of attrition took
a turn on April 15 when software professional Atif Mulla (24) was picked
up by police when he went to Bandra-Kurla for a job interview.
Crime Branch officers insisted that
Atif was linked to the Mulund bomb blast, which killed 11 and injured more
than 50.
Sub-Inspector SP Gaware, of the
Padgha police, has denied that police are afraid of entering the village.
He claimed that all 15 wanted men
were actually absconding away from the village. "The day we learn they
are back, we will arrest them immediately," he said.
However, such claims appear weak
after Padgha police detained six other villagers only when they reached
a checkpoint outside the village a fortnight ago. They had been travelling
to work in a jeep.
The game of fear on both sides began
on March 27, when Senior Inspector Pradeep Sharma and Sub-Inspector Daya
Nayak led a team of Criminal Intelligence Unit officers to Borivali to
arrest Nachan.
Police were mobbed and heckled and
in the confusion Nachan escaped.
However, two days later, Sharma
and Nayak led a police team that shot dead three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)
terrorists for involvement in recent city blasts.
The villagers then grew afraid that
Nachan's fate would be the same.
Nachan's father filed a petition
in the Bombay High Court saying his son wanted to surrender for fear of
being killed in an encounter. Nachan surrendered last Thursday.
Police have alleged that the area
has become a happy hunting ground for activists of the banned Students
Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) who are looking for recruits.
A Crime Branch officer said, "The
village has also become a hideout for SIMI loyalists and antisocial elements."
Police also alleged that the three
slain LeT terrorists, gunned down near Jogeshwari on March 29, lived at
Borivali village and Padgha for a while.
A Crime Branch officer said, "We
have sufficient proof against the arrested accused to prove their involvement
in the blast."
However, villager Nasir Mulla said,
"We are a law-abiding people and even during the 1992-93 riots there was
never any trouble at Borivali."