The Andheri police busted a gang that targeted people with bags containing valuables in trains and buses. The accused would mislead the complainant and then decamp with the valuables.
Using the same modus operandi, they robbed a jewellery worker of a bag containing gold worth ₹46.5 lakh on July 19. After a detailed probe, the police nabbed the seven accused, including the mastermind, from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh border.
According to the Andheri police sources, the complainant was carrying one kg of gold to Zaveri Bazaar from his Dahisar shop in a bus. An unidentified person snatched the bag containing the valuables and fled from the bus. By the time the complainant could act on it, the other passengers began panicking. Eventually, the complainant alighted from the bus and lost the trail of the thief.
The complainant then approached the Andheri police, which scrutinised the CCTV footage and identified some of the accused with help of technical evidence and human intelligence. The accused were identified as a part of the gang that operates in trains and buses, targeting people with bags held carelessly.
"A team from Andheri Police was on the trail of the accused and were on the lookout for them in Rajasthan for a fortnight, only to later arrest them at the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. While the six of the accused are from Mumbai, one belongs to Rajasthan. They are all a part of the gang with the same skill set and all have a previous criminal record," said Maheshwar Reddy, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 10). Police have made a recovery of 475 grams of gold valuables worth ₹24.28 lakh.
The arrested accused, identified as Mahendra More, 45, Manoj Medhe, 33, Amin Shaikh, 49, Shashikant Kolwalkar, 63, Vijaykumar Gupta, 38, Manish Darji, 34 and Shaitansingh Rajput, 38. While Shaikh was the mastermind of the gang, each accused had a different role from identifying the victim to snatching, misleading and creating panic, added DCP Reddy.
Police said that each of the accused has been criminally active for at least four years and have a number of cases registered against them across city police stations. Considering the criminal background and activities, police are in the process of invoking the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) charges against the arrested accused.
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