Mumbai Crime: Gang of thieves which operated on buses, trains busted

Photo used for representational purpose

Seven members of a gang of bag-snatchers which targeted passengers on buses and trains have been arrested here, police said on Thursday.

On July 19, an unidentified person had stolen a bag containing gold jewellery worth Rs 46.5 lakh from the employee of a jeweller in a crowded bus in the city. As he raised alarm, some others tried to confuse and mislead him, he told police.

Suburban Andheri police scanned CCTV camera footage and identified some of the accused, said an official. A police team even visited Rajasthan on the trail of the accused who were finally nabbed on the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, the official said.

While six of the accused are from Mumbai, one belongs to Rajasthan, he said.

"They are all part of the same gang with the same skill-set and all have a previous criminal record," said Maheshwar Reddy, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 10). Police also recovered 475 grams of gold valuables worth Rs 24.28 lakh from them.

The arrested men were identified as Mahendra More (45), Manoj Medhe (33), Amin Shaikh (49), Shashikant Kolwalkar (63), Vijaykumar Gupta (38), Manish Darji (34) and Shaitansingh Rajput (38). Shaikh was the kingpin of the gang and each accused played a different role, from identifying a victim to snatching the bag, misleading and creating panic, said DCP Reddy.

The stringent Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) would be invoked against them, he added.

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