Cops bust 6-member gang, net notorious burglars

Nagpur: A team of two constables and a driver attached to Hudkeshwar police station chased and nabbed a gang of six thieves on Sunday night during patrolling which may lead to detections of around a dozen cases, including the latest one at Vihirgaon couple of hours before the thieves were nabbed. Police claimed that the gang had looted more than 12 persons in a span of two weeks.
According to sources, three constables Sanjay Paddhan, Anand and police van driver Arun Paddhan risked their lives by chasing half dozen hardened armed criminals before pinning them down after being alerted about a robbery at knifepoint at Vihirgaon. 21-year-old Shrikant Kasulkar was robbed of cash Rs 8,000 in the incident. The three cops were on patrolling duty when they were informed about four robbers on a bike having looted a man.
Police station source said that Kasulkar had reported the matter at 9.30 pm, an hour after he was robbed at knife-point at Vihirgaon on Kharibi Road. Kasulkar had claimed that it was a gang of four persons on a bike. “Similar type of complaint was reported at the police station three days ago. One more person was robbed yesterday but he did not lodge a complaint. Thus, after receiving the complaint on Sunday, we immediately sent a few teams in the nearby areas in search of the four culprits on a bike and even alerted patrolling cops,” told API KV Chougule, the investigating officer.
During patrolling, Paddhan and his team noticed four youths on a bike heading towards Besa Road. The constables made it sure that the thieves did not get the hint of a police van following them and chased them cleverly for about two kilometres. “At some point, the thieves stopped to meet their two other accomplices and there they noticed the police van following them. Soon thereafter, they tried to zoom away. The constables chased the thieves succeeded in nabbing them,” informed Chougule.
Among the gang members, Shaikh Salman, 19, a resident of Bada Tajbagh has chain snatching case registered against him while others identified as Gurudayal Tandulkar, Praful Choudhary, Raju Shinde, Shaikh Rafiq and Gulrez Nasirbug, all in their twenties, are freshers.
Two hardcore burglars caught
In another separate action, Pachpaoli police managed to nab two hardcore burglars, including one who has 13 offences against him beginning from 2008. Nayeem Khan, who has offences of burglaries registered against him at different police stations like Tehsil, Kalamna, Pachpaoli and Hudkeshwar, is considered to be a prize catch along with his accomplice Sheikh Riyaz, who too has two cases against him. Khan and Sheikh were nabbed by Pachpaoli police team, under supervision of zonal deputy commissioner of police Sanjay Latkar, shortly after they had committed a burglary at Ashok Nagar on Saturday. The alert cops had managed to zero in on the duo after spotting their shoes smeared with clay. At the residence of the victim at Ashok Nagar, the cops had spotted imprints of shoes on the ground.
Pachpaoli police also managed to recover stolen material worth over Rs 8,100 from Sheikh and Khan. Cops feel that the duo may spill beans on more cases of burglaries across the city.