Mumbai Mirror

• Fakira Sheikh has stolen over 50 taxis in the last year-and-a-half, 30 of these in the last six months; he and his gang steal even when cabbies leave their vehicles for lunch or to take a leak 

Mumbai, Sep 29: Taxi drivers across the city live in fear of Fakira Sheikh. After all, Sheikh’s livelihood depends on the loss of theirs. The 48-year-old thief and his wily gang have made off with over 50 taxis in the last year-and-a- half, 30 of them in the last six months alone.

Fakira, who was arrested early this year for snatching taxis, stripping them off every single valuable part and then dumping them somewhere in Worli, has been out on bail for the past four months and he has been playing havoc with the lives of cabbies.

A L Quadros, general secretary of Bombay Taximen Union, recently wrote to Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, Commissioner of Police D N Jadhav and Crime Branch chief Rakesh Maria pleading that a special team be formed to arrest Fakira, 48, and his gang.

Fakira’s area of operation is mostly between Lion Gate and GPO area in south Mumbai. And his favourite time seems to be between 1.45 pm to 2.30 pm, when taxi drivers park their vehicles and are out for lunch. He also seems favour Tuesdays and Thursdays for business.

A sketch of Fakira Sheikh who was released on bail four months ago (Portrait: Sudhir Shetty)

Police Sub-inspector Rajendra Chavan, who had arrested Fakira early this year, says he heads a gang of very skilled car-jackers and excellent drivers. “They open and start taxis with duplicate keys and zoom off towards Worli. Possibly another set of gang members then strips the taxis of tyres, disks, stereos, batteries, dynamos and anything else valuable,” he said.

Interestingly, they rather helpfully replace the tyres with old ones. “They probably finish the entire job in an hour’s time and then abandon the taxi,” Chavan said.

It is not uncommon to see a taxi driver rushing to Worli as soon as he finds his taxi missing. “There have been instances when a missing taxi was recovered in an hour, but by then it had been stripped of everything,” said a taxi driver.

Many of the taximen, therefore, do not even report the incident to police, but only inform the union. “The thefts cost Rs 15,000 to 20,000 to the taxi owner. Just last week we lent Rs 15,000 to a taxi driver whose taxi had gone missing from near Ballard Pier,” Quadros said.

The Nagpada police in conjunction with the MRA Marg police have no launched a manhunt for Fakira and his men. “We have been tracking activities of this gang for sometime now and surely have planned strict action against Fakira and his men. we have nabbed him once earlier and now it will not be difficult to trace him again.

“However, Fakira’s case becomes weak because many taxi drivers do not complain about the thefts to the police and try to recover their taxis on their own. We need more complaints to book Fakira as a criminal involved in organised crime,” DCP Ashok Deshbhratar, Zone III, said.