In a major breakthrough, the Chandigarh police on Wednesday busted a gang of six allegedly involved in crimes in various states. The gang was nabbed by the local police at 2.30 pm from the fields of Makhan Majra village.
After the preliminary investigations, it has been found that the gang — originally from West Bengal and Bihar have been operating in many states and are involved in many crimes.
The mastermind of the gang is Dheeraj aka Rajiv Gawala (27) a resident of West Bengal. Others arrested are Sujit Gawala (38), Rohit Gawala (20), Awinash aka Rahul Gawala (20), Jimmy aka Behra (25) and Munu Gawala aka Pintu (25). All the accused are natives of Jalpai Gurri district in West Bengal except Rohit and Rahul, who are natives of Bihar.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (East), Vijay Kumar said: “Police were tipped-off by a local resident that there were six people planning a theft at the State Bank of India in Daria village.”
Police officials were deputed in civil dress near the area and nabbed after confirmation from head constable Sukhdev Singh.
The DSP added that two motorcycles, one live cartridge, three knives, a country made pistol, wooden stick and chilly powder were also recovered from the gang. The registration numbers on the motorcycles were found to be forged.
The gang had been involved in murder, dacoity, thefts, robbery and snatching. Former Station House Officer (SHO) Inspector Malkiat Singh of Police Station, Sector 29 said, “after we got a tip off yesterday, we tired to trace the gang. We also received an information about a team of police officers who were coming from Jagadhari looking for the gang who fled to Chandigarh.”
DSP Vijay Kumar also said, “The gang had come to the city with their motorcycles in different trains in groups of three. They had been involved in robberies in Ambala, Karnal, Yamunanagar, Agra, Karnal, Muzzafarpur, Guwahati and other places.”
Prelim Rap Sheet
February 10, 2012: Theft/robbery of Rs 1.5 lakhat Yamunanagar
June 14: Theft/robbery of Rs 1 lakh at Baldev Nagar
July 23: Theft/robbery of Rs 2 lakh at Jagadari
September 13: Theft/robbery Rs 4 lakh at Ambala.
Sept 24: Theft/robbery of Rs 1 lakh at Karnal
Sept 27: Snatching Rs 9.5 lakh at Yamunanagar.
November 5: Theft/robbery of Rs 2.8 lakh at Agra.
Modus operandi
The modus operandi followed by the gang was that the six would travel in trains from West to East India. At every station, they used to buy sim-cards and mobiles on fake documents. With a fair knowledge of technology, the sim-cards and mobiles were destroyed after committing a crime in a particular city.
Under scanner
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Naunihal Sinsgh said, “the verification of all the crimes that the gang had committed will be a long process. We will have to send teams to different places and get in-touch with the local police of all the areas that will be identified. We are suspecting their involvement in more than a hundred cases”.
“The gang of six had been arrested only once till date that too in a minor case of assault”, said the SSP. The gang has also been involved in thefts is trains like Shatabdi Express, Rajdhani Express, Kanchanjanga Kamru and Awad Express etc. The UT police has established that it is not the first time that they were planning a theft in Chandigarh. A case was registered against them in March involving a snatching of Rs 80, 000.