Doon police nab three accused for stealing mobiles while engaging drivers in talks
Monday 29 May 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Dehradun police have arrested three men accused of stealing mobile phones from car seats in crowded places while engaging the driver in conversation. They have allegedly conducted such scams in various areas of the city, said the senior superintendent of police Daleep Singh Kunwar in a Press conference here on Sunday. He said that a man named Vishesh Nautiyal registered a complaint in the Nehru Colony police station on May 25 that he was in his car when the traffic light was red in Dharampur Chowk the same day when a man knocked on his car window and complained that his foot came under his car.
When he was having this conversation with him, a man allegedly stole his mobile from the other window. Kunwar said that the police had received such complaints from several areas of the city considering which a team was formed to investigate the case. He said that the police teams questioned the complainant and the people in the vicinity and gathered information regarding the accused. They also checked and observed CCTV footage of cameras installed near the crime scene and on the routes leading to it. The police activated its informers’ system that informed them that some people in a car with a Delhi number plate were trying to sell an iPhone at a cheap rate in the Mothorawala area, which they suspected to be the same mobile they stole from the victim in the Nehru Colony area. Acting on the tip-off, the SSP said that the police team started checking vehicles in the Mothorawala area and noticed a car with a Delhi number plate turned back after noticing police ahead.
The police soon surrounded them to stop the car and three people in the car tried to escape towards the nearby river but the police caught them, he said. On the question of why they tried to escape, they allegedly lied by saying they did not have a license. When the police checked their car, they found six mobile phones worth nearly Rs six lakh along with an illegal country made pistol along with a live cartridge. The SSP claimed that they later confessed to stealing these phones from different areas of the city including Nehru Colony, ISBT, Dharampur and Prince Chowk among others. The culprits have been identified as Yusuf Ali (38), Aadil (32) and Rizwan (28) who belong to Uttar Pradesh, as per the police. Kunwar said, “They have revealed during the investigation that they are drug addicts and conduct such scams to steal mobiles to get money. They said that they observe such cars in crowds and traffic where the driver has kept his/her mobile on the car seat.
After selecting the victim, they go near the vehicle and make excuses in order to make the driver open the window to speak to them while their accomplice steals the mobile kept on the seat from the other side.” He said that the culprits have gone to jail in UP under the Arms Act and NDPS Act. They have been arrested and will be presented before the court soon, said SSP.
