Cops up a blind alley chasing interstate robbers

NAGPUR: The arrest of three robbers from Madhya Pradesh recently has put the city police on guard. Admitting that this is a new challenge to them, the cops say that interstate goons have again started targeting homes in Nagpur.
Criminal migration is nothing new. City police would earlier organize interstate crime meetings to improve coordination and exchange of inputs with the officers of neighbouring states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.Such conferences are now relegated to memory now even though the threat quotient is on the upswing.
It was already a known fact that a well-oiled interstate syndicate of bike and four-wheeler thieves are operating in the city. Now, the burglars and robbers too have started seeking greener pastures here.
Crime branch senior inspector Madhao Giri said that his squad had conducted several raids in the neighbouring states to nab criminals after their local links came to fore.
"Recently we busted a racket of bike thieves operating from Chhindwara and Multai in MP," said Giri. "No one checks documents of vehicles in the interiors of some of the neighbouring states. It is very easy to sell stolen bikes in MP and Chhattisgarh villages at throwaway prices. Fake documents and registration numbers are prepared too."
Catching the migrant criminals is a tricky affair. While the photographs and other details like finger print impressions of criminals active in the city are available in the police records, the same cannot be said about the migrant ones. Obviously, the victims or witnesses fail to point out these criminals photographs in the rogue's gallery.
In 2008, the city witnessed a shoot-out at a hawala traders' office at Lakadganj. A gang from Chitrakoot in Uttar Pradesh, aided by their local contact, had robbed a few lakhs of rupees from the office of the Lakhotia brothers. They had also shot the two brothers, injuring the younger one.
Prior to this, the city's last encounter between police and a criminal involved a hardened burglar from Uttarakhand. Angrez Singh, who had several offences against him, had taken shelter in a hotel where he was gunned down in 2007.
The Gittikhadan police's recent success when they caught Azim Abdul Salim, alias Ajju, a notorious burglar from Seoni in MP, in Kamptee only underlines the trend. He had committed a burglary in the city with his two accomplices who too were from the neighbouring state. Police had seized the bike of one of the miscreants who would ride to the city from Balaghat in MP, a distance of 200 kms.
Gittikhadan police said that Ajju was part of a gang that conducted armed robberies. "He was trying to settle in the city outskirts and form a gang to operate here. He had warrants in more than 10 cases of burglaries in Seoni which forced him to shift to Nagpur," said a constable.
Police said that miscreants from MP and Chhattisgarh migrated to Nagpur and try find jobs in hotels or eateries. They would also befriend local goons and form a gang. "They would then commit an offence and sneak away with the stolen booty and cash," said an officer.