3 held for theft of metro track plates

Ahmedabad: Local crime branch sleuths arrested three persons on Saturday, for allegedly stealing steel base plates from the track of Phase II of the metro project at Randesan.The three arrested are Rohit Thakore, a resident of Sector 5; Raimalji Thakore, a resident of Sector 4; and Laduram Gujjar, a resident of Sargasan. A case was registered at Infocity police station after 300 base plates went missing, valued at Rs 2.4 lakh. The theft of these plates occurred at Pillar P/9/21, near Swaminarayan Residency in Randesan village. The theft took place between 2pm on Wednesday and 10am on Thursday. The accused had undone the fastening of the metro track and removed the base plates. The investigation was handed over to LCB II, which formed several teams to catch the accused. Investigators began looking for information on those involved in such thefts at night and studied their modus operandi. Investigators said technical and human sources were activated and they learned that three men were moving about in a car with metal plates in it, which they were going to sell. Police kept watch at the place mentioned in the intelligence, between Raksha Shakti Crossroads and GIFT City, and intercepted a car matching the description received. On checking it, they found four base plates. The accused told investigators that they had reached an understanding with two security guards deployed for metro security. The accused then removed 300 plates from the track with the connivance of the guards. They told investigators that they had sold 296 plates and were about to sell the last four.