UP-based gang busted in Ludhiana

LUDHIANA: The Ludhiana police on Sunday nabbed a fifteen-member UP based gang involved in duping commuters off their money everyday while traveling by auto-rickshaws on the road.
The police recovered Rs. 40,000 from the gang after their arrest, which the police claims was stolen by the gang members.
A gang, in collusion with two auto rickshaws operated by crowding into the auto-rickshaw as fictitious passengers, and then stopping over to pick up one other real passenger from the road side.The genuine passenger would be crammed up badly in the auto, and then while he was seated amidst the gang, one would quietly pinch his wallet, or pinch out of a woman’s purse.
The police explained at this time the auto-rickshaw drove recklessly, and the passenger was engrossed in saving himself from falling over, then worry about one’s belongings.
The Superintendent of Police, City I, Harish Kumar in a press meet here today explained that the gang members hailed from Bijnaur district of UP, and robbed people of their money in major cities across the country, like Delhi, Lucknow, etc. He said they moved on from the city after fifteen to twenty days, and then operated for the coming three weeks in another city. He said it was learnt during investigations that a similar gang had operated in Ludhiana during Diwali days, and gone back with hefty sums of money.
The fifteen-member gang, including two women, also had three members, of those who had robbed people during Diwali last year.
Harish Kumar is optimistic that investigations would lead them to the rest of the gang in UP. He also added that there are scores of other gangs like them operating all over the country, as was revealed during investigations by the gangsters and was learnt by the police by the number of complaints pouring in by commuters of being robbed by similar gangs.
The gang had lived in rented house at Shimlapuri, and also used a country made pistol to scare the commuters, if they did not relent to their demands and shed off their money.