The city police have busted a gang from Tin Pahar, Jharkhand involved in a series of mobile phone snatching in crowded places such as cricket stadium while IPL matches are on and other occasions. The gang quickly smuggled mobile phones to remote places of their state and sold them at local markets in West Bengal and bordering areas of Bangladesh.
A series of complaints from fans who lost their mobile phones when they visited the Chepauk stadium or returned from the stadium after watching an IPL match on March 28 were lodged with police. All these complaints were raised through a mobile app called ‘Chennai Singam IPL’ with QR Code which was recently introduced by Police.
After analysing electronic evidence and voluminous data from CCTV footage and other sources, police traced the gang staying at a lodge in Vellore. Six of them were from Jharkhand and two from West Bengal. The arrested youth were named Rajkumar, 22, Akash Nonia, 23, Vishal Kumar Mato, 22 and Gopind Kumar, 21 and four other juveniles were subjected to appropriate legal proceedings. Police seized 38 mobile phones from the suspects. They also showed their handiwork at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
On Monday, police arrested three more suspects Rahul Kumar, 24, Jithera Sani 30 and Praveen Kumar Mato from Jharkhand. Additional Commissioner of Police, South N.Kannan said further interrogation revealed that the gang of 11 came by air, train or buses to the city and all of them are from Tin Phar village in Jharkhand. They were engaged by the prime accused to indulge in thieving on a daily wage of ₹1,000.
Police said there were 11 suspects in two gangs who were arrested so far, and 74 mobile phones were recovered from them. The investigation revealed that the mobile phones were snatched in Koyambedu, Vadapalani, Avadi, Purasawalkam, ICF, Marina beach, Bengaluru and Tirupati.
These gangs trained youth and juveniles to snatch and pick-pocket before deploying them, said police.
Published - April 10, 2025 12:46 am IST
