3 held for phone theft worth Rs 4 lakh

Indore: Indore police on Monday said they arrested three persons in connection with the theft of mobile phones worth Rs 4 lakh from a shop situated in Vijay Nagar. The accused allegedly distributed the stolen phones among themselves and sold them at discounted prices. The thieves were identified after the cyber team tracked the location of the stolen devices. Police are currently investigating those who purchased the stolen phones.Vijayanagar Police station in charge (TI) Chandrakant Patel stated that a complaint was lodged by Ankit Soni, a resident of Pardeshipura. In his complaint, Soni reported that mobile phones were stolen from his mobile shop located in the Vijay Nagar on September 2024. Following the complaint, a case was registered, but the police were initially unable to identify the culprits. The cyber team was conducting an investigation based on the IMEI numbers of all the stolen mobile phones.During the investigation, the cyber team tracked an active mobile phone, leading to a youth. Based on his information, Ashraf alias Bala, son of Rashid Khan, was arrested. The accused revealed that he, along with Javed, son of Bashir Khan, a resident of Tarana, Ujjain, and Irshad, son of Hakim, a resident of Ichhawar, Sehore district, committed the theft. They subsequently divided the stolen goods among themselves.Police recovered mobile phones worth approximately Rs 4 lakh from their possession. Ashraf has around 13 previous cases registered against him.