Pune: Bihar Gang Preying on Festival-Goers Nabbed by Faraskhana Police; Rs 5.77 Lakh Seized From Them
Pune:
In a significant operation, the Faraskhana police have dismantled a gang from Bihar that targets people during the Dahi Handi and Ganeshotsav festivals. The gang lures passengers with promises of giving them online tickets, takes them to secluded locations, and robs them after assaulting. Authorities have arrested 10 members of the gang and seized valuables worth Rs 5.77 lakh from them.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Raja Yunus Pinku (age 19), Mohammad Sultan Mohammad Tauhid Shaikh (age 18), main mastermind Munna Jodhan Sah (age 41), Rakesh Kapleswar Paswan (age 32), Bishambar Mosfir Das (age 25), Dharmendra Kumar Asrafia (age 28), Jitendra Kumar Mohan Sahni (age 26), Rajendra Kumar Sukhdev Mahato (age 28), Dinesh Hari Paswan (age 27), and Pitambar Mosafir Das (age 29). All are original natives of Bihar.
Police have seized a total of goods worth Rs 5.77 lakh from their house searches and raids, including 41 mobile phones of different companies, cash worth Rs 1.43 lakh, 3 Aadhaar cards in the names of different people, 2 PAN cards, and ATM cards of 9 different people.
In this regard, a 21-year-old resident of Shirur has made a complaint against the gang at Faraskhana police station. The plaintiff had come to Pune railway station on August 25 to go to his native Bihar due to his father’s accident. At that time, the accused brought him near Dulya Maruti temple by telling him that they could get his tickets online. There, the accused and their accomplices assaulted the plaintiff and took away his mobile phone, bank ATM card, Aadhaar card, and PAN card from him. The accused also took 3.3 lakh from his bank account in the next two days by forcibly taking the bank’s password from the plaintiff.
While investigating this crime, police checked the entire CCTV footage of the incident. Meanwhile, Police Ammaldar Gajanan Sonune and Mahesh Rathod received information through an informant that some criminals were coming to the Dulya Maruti temple area with the intention of committing the crime again. To confirm this news, the police laid a trap in the Dulya Maruti temple area. At this time, both Raja Pinku and Mohammad Shaikh were caught. After questioning them, the police also arrested eight more of their accomplices from Pune.
What was the modus operandi of these criminals?
This gang is originally from Bihar and comes to Pune during Dahi Handi and Ganeshotsav. These people generally used to stop at Pune Railway Station and take people to the deserted place by assuring them to give online tickets of the travel. After that, these accused used to forcefully seize ATM cards, PAN cards, and Aadhaar cards from the people and take money from them. With the help of passwords, these criminals were then syphoning money from people’s bank accounts.
This action has been taken by the team of Senior Police Inspector Prashant Bhasme, Police Inspector Ajit Jadhav, Assistant Police Inspector Vaibhav Gaikwad, Police Sub-Inspector Arvind Shinde, Assistant Police Faujdar Mehbub Mokashi, Police Ammaldar Tanaji Nangre, Nitin Telange, Pravin Pasalkar, Vaibhav Swamy, Vishal Shinde, Mahesh Rathod, Gajanan Sonune, Nitin Jadhav, Sandeep Kamble, Sameer Malvadkar, Sumit Khutte, Arjun Kudalkar, Mahesh Pawar, Shashikant Nanavare, and Chetan Holkar under the guidance of Additional Commissioner of Police Pravin Kumar Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police Sandeep Singh Gill, and Assistant Commissioner of Police Nutan Pawar.
