An informer from the slums of Versova, near the fishermen colony, tipped the Local Crime Branch about this unique ritual which led to Patel's arrest
Leading a lavish lifestyle proved costly to dreaded gangster and fugitive Tatya Patel after his habit to use only mineral water for bathing and household chores blew his cover and landed him behind bars on the charges of Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA). An informer from the slums of Versova, near the fishermen colony, tipped the Local Crime Branch (LCB) about this unique ritual which led to Patel's arrest.
Over 100 policemen from the LCB of Thane Rural were on the lookout for Patel after he was booked on charges of attempt to murder and MCOCA in 2017. Patel had been on the run since then.
Infamously known as the Patel gang, the family has over 200 cases of extortion, land grabbing, murder and attempt to murder charges against them. The gang operated in Mira Bhayander region's Kashi village and has properties across the city.
"Tatya never stepped out of his rented slum house in Versova. The locals often suspected his whereabouts as hardly anyone visited him apart from a shopkeeper from the local general store who supplied him with at least 20 to 30 litres of water per day. He never filled water from the slum's public taps and cooked food by himself. By then, we had already alerted our informers in the slum pockets as we were keeping an eye on his activities," said an official from the LCB.
"We had the knowledge that Patel only used mineral water for daily use and when we were alerted by our informer, a police team kept a watch and we conducted 'Operation Tatya' successfully and arrested him," said Pramod Badakh, Assistant Police Inspector, Kashimira LCB in-charge.
"We produced Patel in front of the MCOCA court in Thane and he has been remanded into police custody up to April 27," added Badakh.
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