Vadodara cops turn tourists to nab burglars from Haridwar

VADODARA: Crime branch sleuths have busted a burglary gang and arrested two men from Haridwar. The cops had received information that the duo that had committed a burglary in Vadodara was on tour to Haridwar.
“We camped in Haridwar as tourists for a couple of days to track down the accused. Two of their accomplices are yet to be arrested,” said a crime branch official.
Those arrested have been identified as Ankit Chaudhary and Rupsingh Jaat. Chaudhary and Jaat are natives of Uttar Pradesh and they had travelled to Vadodara to commit the burglary with their accomplices.
Crime branch sleuths said that they earlier visited UP and then went to Haridwar. The cops have seized a car, along with five mobile phones, 11 SIM cards, cash and a laptop from the accused duo. Their accomplices, Mobin Sabir and Rakesh Chaudhary, are yet to be arrested.
“The gang used to travel from UP to Gujarat to commit burglaries or loot. After committing the crime, they used to flee to some other state,” crime branch officials said. Investigations revealed that the gang had committed burglaries in Surat and Himmatnagar as well.
Chaudhary had been arrested by the Bapod police in 2018 when he, along with three others, had tried to loot a woman. An amusing episode had led to his arrest. The gang of four had accosted Vaishali Patel at an ATM booth on Ajwa Road and snatched Rs 10,000 from her in July 2018.
All the four sat in a car and were fleeing when their vehicle broke down right in front of Bapod police station. Patel, who was chasing them on her two-wheeler, spotted the car and raised an alarm, following which all the accused abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot.
Some alert cops at the police station chased the gang and managed to nab one of the accused, Nitesh Chauhan. Chauhan led them to other three, including Chaudhary.
This gang has dozens of cases registered against it in different states.