Pimpri-Chinchwad police on Saturday said they have arrested a gang of six persons for allegedly committing thefts of trucks and tempo vehicles (pick-up trucks) from different parts of the state.
Police have identified the accused persons as Latur natives Ganesh Arjun Puri (28), Prakash Narayan Giri (31) and Mujib Mohammad Shaikh (38), Jamshed alias Feroz Khan Pathan (38) of Osmanabad, Kushal Abhimanyu Jadhav (32) of Mulshi in Pune district and Jitendra Krushnakumar Yadav (22) of Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh.
According to a press release issued by deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Anand Bhoite, the gang was busted after a team led by senior police inspector Balkrishna Sawant of Hinjewadi police station began probe into a truck theft case.
Through videos captured by CCTV cameras that were checked during the investigation, the police team suspected that a group of persons travelling in a particular four-wheeler were involved in truck and tempo thefts in Hinjewadi as well as at other locations.
Acting on a tip-off to policeman Omprakash Kamble, a Hinjewadi police station team led by assistant inspector Sagar Kate laid a trap in Sus area earlier this week. “The accused persons were spotted moving about suspiciously in a four-wheeler in the area. On seeing the cops, they tried to flee from the spot but police chased them and arrested three of them from Hinjewadi area. Later, three more persons were also arrested,” police said.
During searches, cops recovered various equipment apparently used by the accused persons for committing vehicle thefts. Police have so far recovered eight stolen vehicles worth Rs 80.25 lakh from the accused persons, they said. A stolen truck was seized from Hyderabad while a tempo was recovered from Zaheerabad in Telangana, they added.
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So far, police said, the involvement of the accused persons in 11 cases of crime registered at different police stations in the state has been confirmed.
While Jadhav is a history sheeter and was wanted in an attempt to murder case lodged at the Paud police station since the last three years, Ganesh Puri and Prakash Giri too are criminals on police record, stated the press release.
