Article: Men in khaki catch CID crew

On a hot Sunday afternoon, a crowd had gathered to watch 'inspector' Daya of the serialCID fame outside the State Transport bus depot in Nehru Nagar, Kurla (east).

As the camera rolled, the tall, well-built 'inspector' moved under cover, his hawk-eye scanning every visitor at the bus stand ' just like the script demanded.

Suddenly, a team of the Mumbai police swooped down on the scene ' not what the script demanded. As onlookers watched, the shooting crew wondered who these men in khaki were.

And it took a while for them and the onlookers to realise that the men in khaki were the real cops. And they were there to stop the shooting as the crew had not sought the requisite permission.

This face-to-face between the reel and real police lasted a few minutes. The men in khaki asked the actors to wrap up and pack up.

It later turned out that the huge crowd of onlookers who had gathered to watch the shooting of the episode had made it difficult for people to move around the bus stand. One of the people had called up the Nehru Nagar police station, causing the real cops to show up unexpectedly on the scene.

Inspector of Nehru Nagar police station, Rajan Beknalkar, said that the crew members had sought permission only from the state transport authorities. "They were not aware that they also needed police permission. Only after that we give the go-ahead, can they proceed," said Beknalkar.