Mumbai: Sahar police arrested a 49-year-old cab driver for allegedly threatening police officers posing as decoy customers outside Mumbai International Airport and hiring his taxi to travel to Borivli. The incident occurred on June 25 when the accused, Warisali Sayuddin Shaikh, allegedly fixed the fare at Rs 550 for Borivli but midway demanded Rs 800. Shaikh was booked for extortion, his vehicle was seized and his licence was send for suspension.When the decoy customers questioned the increased fare, Shaikh allegedly threatened them with dire consequences and warned them to remain seated if they did not want trouble. “This is the second such incident that occurred in less than 48 hours,” said police.A special drive was carried out by Sahar police to keep a check on auto rickshaw and cab drivers who threatened and fleeced customers hiring their services after exiting the airport. In the complaint, police constable Devidas Sonawane (56) said, “I and police constable Akshay Borate along with two witnesses—Avnish Tiwari (19) and Siddhesh Khedekar (19)—were standing on the opposite side of the exit lane from the airport near Hyatt Signal inquiring about booking an auto-rickshaw and taxi to go to Borivli. A taxi driver approached us. The accused’s behavior was aggressive, and his words created fear in our minds,” said Sonawane in the FIR. Police said a team following the taxi stopped it after receiving a signale from Sonawane and arrested Shaikh.On June 23, Sahar police arrested an auto rickshaw driver, Mohammed Aslam Sheikh (45), from Jogeshwari (W), in a case of extortion after he allegedly tried to fleece decoy passengers outside Mumbai International Airport.After a foreigner on a Mumbai trip on Jan 12 was fleeced of 200 US dollars by two cab drivers for a 400 metre drive to her hotel, Sahar police said they initiated stringent action against cab and auto rickshaw drivers by booking them under extortion charges apart from cheating to curb the menace of drivers threatening, fleecing and extorting money from tourists and passengers.
