Man gives Mumbai cops the slip four times in a month

Mumbai Police is having a nightmare trying to catch Ramchandra Chatri the man who allegedly hatched the plot to extort money from Salman Khanrsquos advocate Dipesh Mehta What is making matters more difficult for them is that Chatri was once one of their own he had been working as a police informer for the past 12 years He has sent the Bandra police and the Property Cell of the Crime Branch into a tizzy over the past monthRamchandra Chatri regularly calls up Dipesh Mehta below telling him he will surrender When cops lay a trap he never turns upChatri had made a plan with two of his aides Aftab Salim Sheikh and Anthony Dias to issue threats to Mehta and extract Rs 2 crore from him The two aides were caught and they revealed his role in the case Chatri is the son of the house help and former security guard at Mehtarsquos house The lawyer had helped pay for his fatherrsquos cancer treatment and had also looked after his sisters ldquoI have seen him grow up in front of me Irsquom surprised he made me a targetrdquo Mehta had told MiD DAY earlierLawyer Dipesh Mehta had helped pay for Chatrirsquos fatherrsquos cancer treatmentChatri had been calling up the advocate and asking for money in the name of one lsquoAzad gangrsquo lsquoLawyer continues to get extortion calls police cluelessrsquo January 1 He has also been giving death threats saying hersquod shoot Mehta or kill him using a hand grenade He had told him ldquoI know all of the policersquos tactics I have knowledge of all their movements and how they are laying traps for me It is impossible to arrest me A police officer keeps giving me informationrdquoChatri has openly dared the police to come and arrest him However police have been unable to lay their hands on him He regularly calls up Mehta telling him he will surrender But when police lay a trap he never turns upFour times unluckyldquoWe have laid a trap for him on four occasions two at Hill Road in Bandra West near Podar School in Santacruz and one at Carter Road in Bandra West On all occasions Chatri kept a close watch on the plainclothes policemen there He came to the spot and fled after seeing police presence We waited for several hours but he didnrsquot come He then gave us silly reasons for not showing uprdquo said an officer from Bandra police stationOn Carter Road Mehta waited at a coffee shop for fours hours but Chatri did not turn up At Podar School Chatri came to the spot and a single cop caught hold of him But the man is a black belt in karate and easily managed to free himself from the policemanrsquos hold then escaped by the time the other policemen arrived at the spot On two other occasions he didnrsquot turn up at allSurprisingly cops havenrsquot been able to track down his location as well A police officer said ldquoEvery time Chatri calls he is travelling on a bike Once he was talking with Mehta on the phone while riding a bike His first location showed he was in Malad but half an hour later his location indicated he was in Colaba Working with the police he has learnt all the tricks of the trade He travels in narrow lanes most of the timeAs an informer Chatri helped solve cases of theft and robbery and catch drug addicts He himself has criminal cases against him He even visited his ailing father at Hinduja Hospital When he was taken home then too he made it a point to visit his father Still police werenrsquot able to nab himCops betrayed meMiD DAY had spoken with the the elusive man last week During our conversation he claimed he had been stabbed in the back by the police He had told this newspaper ldquoI respect Mehta Sir he is like a father figure to me He has helped me every time in every possible way But the Bandra police officials have betrayed me I have worked for them on so many occasions I have helped them solve so many cases and havenrsquot taken a single rupee but they are framing merdquoHe further said ldquoThis is all a big mistake and these issues can be resolved I assure you I will surrender today evening and meet you before surrendering to the cops I have so many things to say against the cops who are setting me uprdquo After this conversation however the promised surrender never materialised12 years agoChatri claims to have a story of his own which seems right out of a Bollywood film During conversation a week back Chatri asked Mehta to stand outside his office at Dhoop Chhaon building in Bandra West When Mehta stood at the gate Chatri called him and said ldquoAll this started around 12 years back at the same place gate when I accidentally pushed a flat occupant He suffered a fracture because of the fall Your mother Pratibha who is now 85 years old approached the occupant to file a case against merdquoHe was later arrested by the Bandra police on this complaint and missed his SSC exams because he was in jail He claims to have taken to crime owing to this incident Meanwhile Mehta is fuming at the inability of the police to track his tormentor down ldquoIrsquom shocked at the inefficiency of the police to arrest him I hope hersquos nabbed soonrdquo said Mehta ldquoI am under extreme stress my freedom has been compromised At the back of my mind there is always a fear I know he can do anythingrdquo He added ldquoLooking at him I have lost all faith in humanity he grew up in front of merdquo