The Chittoor police, in a joint operation with the Madhya Pradesh police, cracked the sensational theft of mobile phones worth ₹7 crore in a highway robbery on Nagari-Tamil Nadu border on August 26.
The operation led to the recovery of the booty, except for a few pieces of mobiles, and the arrest of some key members of a large gang, with links spread over Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. A police officer termed the operation as “no less than the film Khakee.”
On August 26 night, a container with 16 cartons of mobiles from a mobile manufacturing unit at Sriperambudur in Tamil Nadu, on its way to Mumbai, was hijacked by a gang near Nagari in Chittoor district. After allegedly assaulting its driver, the gang took away part of the consignment, worth about ₹7 crore.
One particular incident on the Palamaner-Karnataka border, which took place a few weeks before the Nagari incident, caught the attention of the Chittoor police. After striking the vehicle, a gang had abandoned it, finding the consignment not useful to them, as it was some gigantic technical equipment meant for space operations. Similarly, another incident in Nellore district came in handy to establish some vague links connected to Dewas city of Madhya Pradesh. The Superintendent of Police formed a special party and it left for Dewas on August 30.
A senior police officer at Dewas reportedly played a crucial role in giving the Chittoor police an early lead, giving information about notorious highway robbery gangs from Dewas and Ujjain. “The gangs, known as Kanjarbhats, in M.P., would break into moving vehicles using advanced gadgets to break the locks. The crew would know about the theft several hours later while they halt for rest,” a police officer told The Hindu.
Vital clue
On scrutinising the bank accounts of some prime suspects, a cash transfer from a key suspect to the account of a youth on the eve of August 26 reportedly provided the essential leads, tracing the links to Tamil Nadu. After a gruelling investigation, some members of the gang were taken into custody in Dewas.
It was found that after striking the container and taking the booty from Nagari on August 26, the gang left for Maharashtra via Kadapa and Bellary in Karnataka. The stolen consignment was said to have been handed over to a “party” at a city in Maharashtra. With solid information and clues, the police zeroed in on the accused, cracking the case in one month.
The police in Chittoor confirmed that the special party was on the job of producing the accused at a court in Dewas on Tuesday, to process the transit warrant for Chittoor, along with the recovered property.
Meanwhile, the gangs linked to Ujjain and Dewas were believed to be behind the highway robbery at Mangalagiri in Guntur district early this month.