Narmadapuram (Madhya Pradesh): The police arrested a man on Monday for looting bus passengers by offering them drug-laced tea and recovered stolen gold ornaments worth Rs 32 lakh from his possession.
The man used to officer drug-laced tea to traders of Makhan Nagar Sarafa market when they visited some places on a bus and robbed them of cash and jewellery.
The man has been identified as Raghuraj Chouhan.
On May 7, a trader Abhilendu Samant, resident of Jain Temple road in Makhannagar lodged a complaint at Narmadapuram Kotwali that in the early hours of May 2 took a bus from Narda in Bhopal to Makhannagar in Narmadapuram.
He was carrying 600 grams of gold jewellery which he got repaired from Bhopal jewellery market.
At Nadra bus stand in Bhopal, a stranger spoke to Samant and took him into confidence.
The stranger offered him drug-laced tea and sat beside the complainant on the bus.
After taking the drug-laced tea, Samant lost his senses. At around 4:30 am the stranger got down from the bus with the bag containing the gold ornaments.
By the time Samant came round, the bus had reached Sohagpur. On reaching Makhannagar, he informed the jewelers and lodged a complaint at the Makhan Nagar police station.
Superintendent of police Gurkaran Singh set up a team under the sub-divisional officer of police Parag Saini to inquire into the case.
The police team visited Bhopal, Itarsi, Jabalpur, Chitrakoot, Jhansi and Shivpuri.
On the grounds of evidence, the police came to know that Raghuraj was behind the incident.
On getting information that the gangster was waiting at the Bhopal railway station on Saturday, a police team rushed to the spot and caught hold of Raghuraj.
When the police quizzed him, Raghuraj, resident of Arhedi under Ayodhya Nagar police in Bhopal, confessed to his crime. A reward of Rs 30, 000 was declared on his head.
