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Real-life 'Special 26' gang members held

Acting on a tip-off that the accused will be assembling at Bhogal, the police officers laid a trap and arrested them.

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The Irani gang members (faces covered) posed as cops or CBI officials to cheat people
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The Delhi Police have arrested four members of the Irani Gang, notorious for duping people by posing as police and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers. As many as 15 cases have been registered against the accused in Mumbai, including a case against the kingpin, Naasir Hafiz Khan alias Irani, and an associate registered under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Acting on a tip-off that the accused will be assembling at Bhogal, the police officers laid a trap and arrested them.

"The arrestees have been identified as Irani, his cousin Shahjman Saiyad alias Asu, Barkat Ali, and Zafar Abbas Amjad Seikh. In 2015, the Mumbai Crime Branch had registered a case against Irani and Zafar Abbas under MCOCA. After fleeing to Delhi, Irani was living in Nizamuddin using a fake identity of Sameer Ali. The gang was constantly active in areas of west Delhi," Deputy Commissioner of Police (west) Vijay Kumar said.

The police claimed that after these arrests, nearly 100 criminal cases in Delhi, Gurugram, and other areas have been solved. The gang was reported to be inspired by the Bollywood movie Special 26. At least two members at a time would dress up in safari suits, and use fake identity cards of police, Crime Branch, and CBI officers.

The modus operandi was simple. They would wait at isolated, dark stretches for senior citizens or women.

"They would act as concerned police officers and inform the targets that a gang of robbers, murderers or chain snatchers was active in the area and that it was not safe for them to be walking with their ornaments on. The gang members would then offer the targets an envelope to keep their valuables in. It was only later that the victims realised that their ornaments had been replaced with fake ones. As many as 30 such cases with similar modus operandi were registered in various police stations in the west district.

On April 9, Rajouri Garden resident Ramesh Kumari Verma, 74, informed the police that she and her husband were travelling in an auto when two persons stopped and told them that a gang was active in the area. They then asked her to remove her jewellery to keep it safe. By the time she realised, her envelope had been switched and the two had fled already.

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