Dreaded Dudhani gang member held

Shivajinagar police nabbed Udhamsingh Dudhani (23), a member of the gang, who was fleeing after robbing two locked flats at Sumangal Housing Society in the wee hours of Saturday.

Police said seven members of the gang had targeted the two plush apartments using the same modus operandi as in the past and were fleeing with valuables when neighbours, alerted by the noises, informed the cops.

Daring: Wanwadi police fish out a chest stolen from a jewellery shop by a member of the Dudhani gang.u00a0

Police officials who arrived at the spot managed to arrest Udhamsingh after he and four gang members attacked them. The remaining six managed to escape, said cops.

"The seven gang members first ventured into the society and before striking the locked flats, they first covered peepholes of the neighbouring flats with cello tape and also locked the doors from outside," said Assistant Police Inspector Mahesh Sartape of Shivajinagar.

He said that they received a call from the control room at 3 am on Saturday, and within five minutes, he and a team of four police personnel reached the spot.

"When we entered the parking area of the building, we saw that six to seven people were escaping in a SUV. When we tried to restrict them, the driver collided with another vehicle parked in the basement. All of them immediately emerged out of the car and started running," Sartape said.

He said that police constable, S B Mane, who gave chase to Udhamsingh managed to nab him and during the melee, Udhamsingh, assaulted him with a crowbar. "I and another police constable then nabbed him from behind. Amid this scuffle, six others managed to flee away from the spot by jumping over the boundary wall of the society," he said.

The police recovered silver ornaments from his possession and the car. "There are several cases registered against him at Satara, Sangali, and Pune city and district. He was serving a sentence in jail, but secured bail," said Sartape.

The Dudhani gang has a specialty in which they are known to attack the police team and in the past there have been several instances wherein they assaulted police personnel while fleeing from the spot.

"We have now decided to invoke MCOCA against the accused, so that he cannot escape the clutches of law by securing bail," he said.