Armed duo arrested near Mumbai’s Taj Hotel

MUMBAI - Only a day after Mumbai Police announced plans to beef up security near the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel in the elite Colaba area of south Mumbai, two armed men were arrested from Kalaghoda, only a kilometre away from the hotel, a police official said Thursday.

“We were tipped-off about these two men loitering in the area with an intention of robbery. We immediately formed teams and apprehended them at the spot,” an official from Colaba Police Station said.

“On frisking the duo, later identified as Iqbal Shaikh (40) and Mohammad Shaikh (23), we seized a country-made revolver, two live rounds and a knife from them,” he added.

The two, currently in police custody, will be produced before the magistrate’s court at the earliest opportunity and remand will be sought, the official said.

“Our line of investigation will be to track if they had committed any offences in the past and what shop or establishment they had planned to strike,” he said.