Both were trying to escape from the police, officials said. (Representational image)
A man accused of extortion and his wife were dramatically arrested in separate incidents while both were trying to escape from the police in Mumbai, an official said on Sunday.
While the accused, Santoshkumar Rampratap Singh alias Bablu Thakur, was arrested from a car after a chase on Thursday, his wife Rita Singh was caught after she jumped before a moving train at the Dadar railway station on Friday, he said.
On Thursday, the Government Railway Police (GRP) at Dadar got a tip-off that Thakur, who was wanted for extortion, robbery, criminal conspiracy and other offences, was going to meet a person near suburban Govandi and planned to leave the city via a toll plaza in neighbouring Thane, he said.
Accordingly, the police laid a trap, but as Thakur saw the police, he tried to run away in a car.
Two policemen on a motorcycle chased him and also alerted their counterparts at various road blockade points, the official said.
As his car reached near the Anand Nagar toll booth in Thane, the bike-borne policemen smashed the window panes of his vehicle and intercepted him.
Thakur was subsequently brought to the Dadar GRP and arrested, the official said.
Earlier, as part of a probe into the case, the police had called his wife many times, but she always gave an excuse.
After Thakur's arrest, the police wanted to question her, but she was not found at the specified address, he said.
Based on intelligence inputs, the police caught her at Juinagar in neighbouring Navi Mumbai on Friday.
After she was brought to the Dadar GRP, she gave police the slip and in a desperate bid to escape, she jumped in front of a Thane-bound train on platform no. 4 of the station, the official said.
The motorman slowed the train and stopped it in the nick of time, he said.
Assistant police inspector Arjun Ghanvat then jumped on to the tracks and pulled the woman up on the platform, the official said.
The woman, who received minor injuries, was admitted to a hospital, he said.
The official said both Thakur and his wife allegedly indulged in criminal activities like extortion and robbery.
"We have come to know that they had made huge money from such activities. More than 20 cases have so far been registered against Thakur. After their arrest, both are currently in police custody till June 1. Further investigation is underway into the case," the official said.