On the roads of Mumbai, a speeding car being followed by policemen in a relentless chase for 45 minutes! Doesn’t this sound straight out of a Bollywood flick? Well, this scene was perfectly executed from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus to Bandra-Worli Sealink on Thursday morning when DRI officials arrested Congress politician Mohammad Jamadar in connection with a 15-kg gold smuggling racket after a 45-minute car chase. He’s also the vice-president of South Mumbai District Congress Committee.
Jamadar was nabbed after the car chase near CST station when he tried to flee in a Mercedes and was chased by policemen in a van for 45 minutes till the Bandra-Worli sea link toll Naka. He was forced to stop his car at a barricade created by 8 police vans.
DRI officials sought the help of cops on seeing Jamadar with his aides. A DRI official said that the deputy police commissioner Manoj Sharma was informed who sent a police team to the entrance of CST station. On sensing some trouble, Jamadar’s aides left in a vehicle while he fled in a Mercedes. Commissioner Sharma had alerted other police stations and eight police vehicles cornered Jamadar on the sea link.
This high-voltage drama on the streets of Mumbai comes as a downer for the Congress party. Jamadar has been alleged as the mastermind of the gold smuggling racket since 2015. As per a Times of India report, the remand application stated that Jamadar hired carriers to smuggle in gold from Dubai on a commission basis- allegedly Rs 10000 each. He was allegedly introduced to smuggling in 2015 by one Siddique who is on the run.
Interestingly, Jamadar is not the first Congress member to be arrested in a smuggling case. NSUI district secretary from Mangalore, Ashton Sequeira, was arrested along with four others for allegedly selling antique bronze idols of Jain Tirthankara near Kotalingeshwar Temple in Udupi in February this year.