Bhopal: Notwithstanding the continuous loots in last three days, the police have claimed to busted a gang of looters accused of looting people of their valuables by stopping them on roads and then throwing chilli powder in their eyes before fleeing away with the loot. The police arrested five accused and confiscated two-wheelers and knives used by them in committing the incidents along with the looted valuables.
The arrested accused have confessed to commit at least six such crimes in different areas of the city in last three days which had terrified residents from going out during late night or early morning.
“Accused identified as Balram Pandit, 26, of Chhatarpur district, Vinay Upadhyay, 18, of Damoh district, Kalicharan, 24, of Sagar district, Deepak Patankar, 20, and Ajay Nath, 18, both of Chola Mandir locality in Bhopal were arrested in the early hours of Friday,” said IG, Bhopal zone, Yogesh Choudhary at a press conference adding the police had launched ‘operation bulldoze’ to nab the accused after continuous incidents in last three days.
Choudhary told media persons that the accused were living in Chola Mandir locality, using their accommodation as base to commit the crimes and keeping the looted valuables.
“On Friday early morning, the police received a tip-off that six suspicious looking youth suspected to be the same men accused of the loot incidents were standing at Chagra Fatal Road near Saniv Nagar Colony. As soon as the input was received, a police team led by city SP, Nishatpura reached the said spot and rounded up the youths. Seeing the police, they tried to escape from the place but were nabbed by the cops in a brief chase barring one, who succeeded in fleeing. In their search, the police recovered four sharp-edged weapons from them. On being interrogated by the police, they confessed to their crime,” said Choudhary. He said among the arrested men, there was one uncle-nephew duo of Balram and Vinay.
“Gang leader Balram was main accused. He used to work at a restaurant and it was his idea to use chilli-powder to attack their victims before looting them. The accused were first time offenders as the police didn’t find them having a criminal background. The reason behind these loots was to make quick money and live a luxurious lifestyle by wearing branded apparels and having liquor. All were drug addicts and used to consume nitravate, liquor and others,” he said adding the police would also take action against the pharmacists if found selling nitravate drug without prescription to the accused.
The police in its action have also recovered looted valuables including four mobile phones, two motorbikes and cash of about Rs 7,000.
“A case has been registered against them under relevant sections of IPC and investigations are on to nab other gang members if any,” said Choudhary.
