A midnight stroll in south Mumbai turned into a nightmare for a Marutian of Indian origin after he allowed a tourist guide to hitch a ride in his cab till CST. En route, the 27-year-old man first demanded to be taken to the tourist's hotel so that they could have sex, got into an altercation when denied, and then snatched his gold chain. The mugger was later nabbed by a police patrol team.

The visitor (name withheld), who recently arrived in India, is currently staying in a hotel at P D'Mello Road. Around 11 on the night of December 20, he went to Colaba for a walk. The 34-year-old came across a man, who identified himself as Taufiq Siddiqui, around 1.30 am near the seafront and both got into a conversation.

Half an hour later, the man decided to head back to his hotel and flagged a cab. As he got into the vehicle, Siddiqui said he wanted to go to Andheri and asked if he could be dropped at CST, to which the unsuspecting tourist agreed, said the police.

"As soon as the cab reached the Sessions Court area, Siddiqui asked the cabbie to take the vehicle in another direction. Siddiqui embraced the tourist and told him to have a physical relationship. He also demanded to be taken to the man's hotel. Terrified at this demand, the Mauritian asked the cabbie to stop," said an officer from Colaba police station.

When the taxi pulled over, Siddiqui started hurling abuses at the man and even tried to assault him. "Siddiqui started demanding money from the visitor. When the man refused, Siddiqui snatched his gold chain and threatened to harm him," the officer said.

Amid the ruckus inside his car, the alert taxi driver spotted a patrolling police party and informed them about the incident. When the police approached the vehicle, Siddiqui started to flee from there. However, he was caught and brought to the police station.

"Siddiqui initially claimed that he had not stolen anything. After a thorough search, we found the chain hidden inside his right shoe," said the officer, adding that the thug is a resident of Mira Road.