Theft spree halted after 7 gang members caught

Rajkot: Seven people, including four women, who used to steal valuables from people at crowded places were arrested by the city police on Friday.
Police had launched an investigation by forming two teams after a woman lodged a complaint that she had lost 340 gm of gold ornaments within minutes of boarding a GSRTC bus.
According to Bhaktinagar police, Indu Vaghela, 6, boarded the bus from Nagrik Bank Chowk to attend a marriage function in Jasdan. She was carrying the ornaments in a box that was kept in a cloth bag. As the bus approached Sorathiyvadi circle, about 1.2 km from where she boarded, Vaghela realized that her box was missing. She also realized that four women who boarded the bus with her might have stolen it. She got down at Aji Dam Chowkdi, the last pick-up point of Rajkot city, and approached the police.
The four women, who had boarded at Nagrik Bank Chowk, had alighted immediately saying they had entered the wrong bus.
One team of cops verified all the CCTV cameras and saw the four suspected women taking a rickshaw near Nagrik Bank Chowk. On scanning the footage of the CCTVs on the roads where the rickshaw was going and found its registration number.
The second team traced the rickshaw driver who informed them that the women had alighted near Nanda Hall. CCTV
CCTV footage near the hall showed that the women took another auto and went towards Sorathiyavadi circle. The police found the seal of traffic police on the rickshaw which provides a unique number to each auto. Based on that, the police got the details of the driver, who informed them that the women had alighted near Greenland Chowkdi.
It was revealed that the women went towards Ahmedabad. From human sources, police tried matching the suspects’ photos with the database of criminals and found that several cases were registered against one of the women in Salabatpura police station of Surat.
The other women and two men were in Rajkot for a couple of days before stealing and had left for Ahmedabad.
Those arrested were Dashrath Thakor (27), his wife Meera (23), Suman Rakhpatre (55), her son Manoj (26), Manoj’s wife Sangeeta (25), Jija Kamle (40) and Sharda Rajpatre (30). All are residents of Kadodara in Surat.