BENGALURU: Social media posts and ordering food online helped police nab a 35-year-old rowdy-sheeter in the city on Thursday. Mohammed Farooq, who had seven cases, including an attempt to murder, against him, evaded arrest for nine years. A rowdy-sheeter in Madiwala police limits, Farooq took to crime in 2012 and continued till 2016 when he went underground.
Farooq’s family members, including his brother-in-law, who is with Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP), were questioned. But nobody had any information about him. His wife is rowdy-sheeter Jaani’s sister. Even Jaani revealed nothing about Farooq when police questioned him.
When efforts of police did not yield any result, a crucial lead came from an informant, who saw a picture of Farooq in front of Vidhana Soudha on Instagram.
During investigation, it was found that Farooq operated an Instagram account in his son’s name. Police took the IP address and that helped them find Farooq’s mobile phone number. Based on the tower dumb, police learnt that he lived in Doddakallasandra on Kanakapura Road. As it did not help them find his exact location, they approached online food aggregators to find out if there were bookings from that mobile phone number. This revealed Farooq’s residential address,” a police officer said.
Farooq was arrested when he was returning home after picking his child from school.
Farooq lived with his wife and child in an upscale apartment. He stopped all criminal activities in 2016 and became a car dealer. He did not attend his father’s funeral fearing arrest, the police officer said.