Seven held for looting petrol pump

PUNE: The Pune police crime branch on late Friday night arrested seven people on the charge of looting Rs 57,000 from Shri Seva petrol pump near E-Square at Ganeshkhind Road on September 6. The police have recovered an ambulance, a chopper, two swords, screw drivers and other articles worth over Rs one lakh from the possession of the suspects.
The suspects had also looted valuables of an autorickshaw driver, ferrying two passengers, who had come to the pump for refuelling.They were robbed off cash and gold ornaments worth Rs 25,000.
The pump's assistant cashier Shantaram Borkar (21) of Sus had registered a complaint of dacoity against unidentified suspects with the Chatushrungi police station. The suspects had also assaulted three employees of the pump around 3.30 am. This was the first incident in the city in which the suspects used an ambulance for a crime.
The breakthrough in the investigations came after a police team, led by inspector Satish Govekar of the anti-organised crime cell (north region) of the crime branch nabbed suspects Santosh Bansode (25) and Yogesh Yadav (22), both residents of Ambernath in Thane, following a tip off.
During sustained interrogation, the duo revealed the names of their five accomplices, all of whom were residing in Adarshnagar colony in Dighi.
A police team, led by inspectors Ram Jadhav, Suresh Kekane, Mohan Vidhate, Ram Pathare, Kishore Jadhav, sub-inspector Majid Shaikh and others, under the guidance of deputy commissioner of police (crime) Anant Rokade and assistant commissioner of police (crime) Prabhakar Patil formed separate teams and launched a massive combing operation at Adarshnagar in Dighi and took the remaining suspects into custody, who admitted to their involvement in the crime.
The arrested include main suspect Veermangalsingh alias Donsingh Mayasingh Dudhani (31) of Ambernath in Thane district, Ramsingh Pratapsingh Tak (42) of Jamnagar in Gujarat, Dashrath Gajanan Burbade (24) of Ambernath, Nihalsingh Nirmalsingh Patwa (25) of Igatpuri in Nashik district and Sangramsingh Gazalsingh Bada (25) of Dighi.
Additional commissioner of police Anant Shinde (crime) on Saturday said the suspects, after refuelling the ambulance, had taken a review of the security arrangements at the pump and had looted the cashier as they found the place to be a soft target, as there was only one security guard on duty on September 6.
Shinde said Dudhani, the main suspect, is involved in around 20 cases of dacoity, robbery and house break-in theft at Belapur, Badlapur, Ambernath, Pantnagar and Pune and other districts in the state.
Shinde said that Dudhani is wanted by the Navi Mumbai police in murder, dacoity and several other cases since one and a half year.
The police are checking the criminal records of the other suspects. The police suspect their involvement in several other cases. The police are trying to trace the ambulance owner.
City police commissioner Meeran Chadha Borwankar has announced a reward of Rs 10,000 each to inspectors Govekar and Jadhav for detecting the case. Policemen Iqbal Shaikh, Nasir Patel, Sanjay Memane, Santosh Jagtap, Satish Kamble, Satish Shinde and others responsible for arresting the suspects will be rewarded later, Shinde said.