Mumbai, Aug 31 (IANS): A team of DN Nagar police in Ambivali, Mumbai were attacked by notorious Irani gang members and the locals when the cops reached the locality to arrest a history-sheeter.

The incident, which took place on August 27, was caught in a camera.

The incident unfolded in Ambivali, when the police attempted to arrest the history-sheeter Firoz Fayyaz Khan, only to encounter vehement opposition from the locals. The attempt to prevent the arrest culminated in the police being targeted with stones hurled by the crowd. The situation turned so dire that the police had to hastily push the apprehended criminal into a school van, which came as a back up, to ensure his custody.

The Mumbai police records indicate a recurring trend, with a significant number of fake cop imposters, chain snatchers, and mobile snatchers hailing from Ambivali village. This fact was reinforced by the recent case of Firoz Fayyaz Khan, who impersonated a fake cop and became the subject of a complaint addressed by the DN Nagar police.

On August 10, Khan, posed as a police officer, to stop a man coming out of a bank with cash. On the pretext of checking his bag for drugs, he allegedly stole Rs 1 lakh in cash by distracting the victim’s attention. Khan then escaped in an autorickshaw, the police said.

A crime branch officer from the Mumbai police articulated the prevailing challenge, stating, "If one person comes to know that somebody has been arrested, the message spreads like wildfire and hundreds of people gather to set the nabbed criminal free from our custody."