Councillor held for running a robbers’ gang in Dasna

GHZIABAD: A councillor of Dasna municipality was arrested on Thursday for allegedly running a burglary gang that stole construction material and equipment from places along national highways where widening work is underway. The councillor, Rizwan, who was apparently the gang leader, is a member of Ward No.9 (Charbisa) of Dasna Nagar Panchayat.
Rizwan (28) was elected as an Independent candidate in the urban local body elections held in December last year.

Apart from Rizwan, the police have also arrested two of his gang members, Shahid and Salman, both of whom are in their late 20s.

The police have seized goods worth Rs 1 lakh from the gang, including welding machines, steel shuttering plates and steel rods. According to the police, the gang used to sell the stolen goods to a scrap dealer, Sambhu, who has also been arrested.

Four cases of theft of construction material from sites along NH-24 and the erstwhile stretch of NH-58, that is, Meerut Road, have been registered over the past four days. At present, widening work is being undertaken by the NHAI and the state public works department, respectively for the two roads, along both the stretches.

The police said the gang used to steal construction material, left by the agencies in the care of labourers, with the help of a loader vehicle.

“The loader vehicle belonged to Feroz, who lives in Mayur Vihar in Delhi. He was known to Rizwan. The loader vehicle was being hired at the rate of Rs 1,000 per night by Rizwan. The gang members would use the vehicle to commit thefts at night and return it during the day. The stolen goods used to be sold to Sambhu who worked in a scrap dealer’s shop near the Dasna toll plaza on NH-24. Sambhu was an employee of the shop. The shop owner was arrested for theft in the past,” said SHO, Masuri, Satyendra Singh.

A case for theft of construction materials was registered ub Muradnagar on February 25. Three similar cases were consecutively lodged in Masuri police station from February 26 to 28.

Locals in Dasna told TOI that Rizwan did not have any criminal history and that he was a scrap dealer. “Rizwan never dealt in steel, iron or metal scrap.

“He deals in cardboards, gunny bags and plastic and glass bottles only. He is known in the area primarily as a social activist and has never been attached to any political party. None of his family members have any criminal background,” Naushad, a classmate of Rizwan, told TOI.

Rizwan is educated till high school level and had contested the urban local body polls last year for the second time.

In 2012, Rizwan had contested as an Independent candidate from Charbisa, which was then Ward No. 6 of Dasna, but lost. In the 2017 polls, Rizwan won the polls by garnering 39% of the total votes polled.