Monday, 22 January 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The police on Sunday arrested three interstate gang members with stolen mobile phones worth Rs 31 lakh. The gang used minors to commit this offense in various cities, the Dehradun senior superintendent of police Ajai Singh said. He said that two complainants Yashasvi Dhiman and Zahida filed a complaint in Ranipokhari police station that two thieves stole their mobile phones when they were shopping in the Ranipokhari Haat on January 20.
When the police started the investigation and questioned the locals, they informed that a gang was allegedly active in the area which had been stealing mobiles phones from many people in the haat. Considering this, the police team started manual surveillance as well as checked footage of about 60 CCTV cameras installed on roadside areas and nearby establishments. Besides this, the police also visited the haat in Raiwala, Rishikesh, Ranipokhari and Doiwala areas and started monitoring suspicious people. They also activated the local informer system to monitor these suspects.
The police on Sunday received information about three suspicious persons, Amar Kumar, Sumit Kumar and Rajesh Kumar who were allegedly involved in the mobile phone thefts in the marketplaces. Singh said that the police detained them for questioning from the Raiwala area and recovered 81 mobiles from their possession. They revealed during the questioning that they stole these mobiles from the haat markets of Haridwar, Rishikesh, Ranipokhari, Raiwala and Doiwala. The police also recovered the phones of complaints from the gang. Besides this, the police also took two minors under their protection aged 14 years and 16 years who were also allegedly involved in stealing these phones.
Singh said that since both minors do not have any family in Uttarakhand, they were presented before the Dehradun district child welfare officer. They were then handed over to the Child Welfare Committee for protection and safety. The SSP said that the gang uses children to carry out the thefts and police are investigating whether more children were involved with them in their crimes.
