City’s Chama gang gets ‘beefy’, spreads wings in MP, Ch’garh

Nagpur: North Nagpur’s

Chama gang

is spreading its tentacles across most parts of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattishgarh. Involved in cattle-smuggling, the gang’s supply chain stretches up to Andhra Pradesh, especially at the slaughterhouses of Hyderabad, it is learnt.

The gang, apart from cattle theft and smuggling, is also learnt to be engaged in other nefarious activities including robbing truckers and stealing vehicles.

It is learnt that the interstate network of Chama gang, with some help of lower rank personnel at police station level, has expanded in the span last couple of years. No major action has been initiated against them in the city. The gang, which is being operated by a goon identified as Mobin, was named after the elder brother of the mastermind.

It has been reliably learnt that the gang is now mentored by two cattle-smuggling kingpins, Irfan and Jameel, following which their illegal trade in beef has got a major boost.

Irfan, also an arms dealer, used to take protection money from gangs but now prefers to enter into a partnership deal with them. Sources said Irfan and Jameel are also ushering the Chama gang into some of the newer territories like Gadchiroli in Maharashtra and Lakhnadon in MP, for stealing cattle and ferrying them to Hyderabad via outskirts of Nagpur.

Zonal DCP Harssh Poddar and DCP, crime, Sambhaji Kadam assured to look into the activities of the gang after the details were shared with them.

According to a reliable source, Chama gang is now active at places like Narsinghpur, Sagar, Parashia, Chandameta, Chhindwada and adjoining places in Madhya Pradesh. In Chhattisgarh, the gang operates in Durg, Bhilai, Rajnandgaon, Somni and Supela. “Many vehicles of Chama gang have been seized in the past by Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh police. The gang members procure these vehicles in the names of drivers on loan from different financial institutions. Once seized by cops, the gang abandon them,” said an insider who has observed the activities of Chama gang from close quarters.

“This gang also procures vehicles from Nagaland at a much cheaper rate and uses them to ferry cattle. The gang members also change the registration and chassis numbers of the trucks after stealing them,” he said.

Sources from Yashodhara Nagar threw light on yet another activities of the Chama gang. The gang members are learnt to travel in the wee hours on the highways trying to spot trucks parked at desolate stretches. The gang, equipped with tranquillizing sprays, target the drivers and cleaners resting in the cabins. After sedating them with sprays, the members get engaged in stealing diesel, spare tyres and batteries.

“Several such offences of thefts and robberies targeting truckers along the highways are registered at different police stations but cops are yet to crack down on their activities,” said the source. He added the gang is also cautious not to get captured in the CCTV footages.