PUNE: The Pune police on Saturday said they arrested 314 absconding/wanted criminals in a special drive launched since July 4.
Some of the criminals arrested had cases pending against them for over two decades.
A list of 2,441 criminals was drawn up by the modus operandi bureau of the city police crime branch. Investigations revealed that trials in criminal cases had come to a standstill and investigations into a large number of cases could not proceed due to non-availability of the accused.
City police commissioner K Venkatesham issued instructions to all police stations and crime branch and formed special squads to arrest the criminals.
"We reviewed all the criminal cases and found that a large number of accused was absconding and wanted for the past 10 and 20 years. The court cases against them had come to a standstill because their presence could not be secured for trial. Investigations into all pending cases had stopped due to non-availability of the accused," said additional commissioner of police (crime) Ashok Morale.
Morale said, "In several cases, the accused could not be traced at their old addresses and their current whereabouts were not known. We read the investigation papers, checked the crime register and read the case diaries to ferret out new clues to arrest the accused. We contacted the complainants, witnesses, friends and relatives and others to trace the whereabouts of the accused. Technical investigations and various other efforts undertaken helped us to arrest 314 criminals in the drive."
"The trial in court cases in which the criminals have been found can be expedited. Chargesheets have been filed in pending cases,'' he said.
He praised policemen Mahesh Nimbalkar and Rajkumar Patil, members of the special squad, for their efforts in arresting 22 criminals.
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