Bokaro Police Arrest 9 'Half-Pant Gang' Members, Solve 44 Theft Cases

Bokaro: The district police on Sunday arrested nine individuals, including two minors, involved in theft cases that occurred in the township this year. The arrested individuals are said to be members of a notorious “half-pant gang”, who committed thefts wearing half-pants and were caught on CCTV at the incident sites multiple times.SP (Bokaro) Harvinder Singh said, “With the arrest of these nine members of the gang, we have solved as many as 44 theft-related cases lodged across various police station areas.” A few members of the gang are still absconding, and police are conducting raids to nab them.Subsequent interrogation of the accused led to the recovery of a large quantity of stolen property, including around 90 grams of gold, approximately 5.3 kg of silver worth about Rs 20 lakhs, Rs 52,850 in cash, two motorcycles, LED televisions, inverters, a laptop, multiple mobile phones, household utensils, religious idols, and other valuables.The total value of the recovered property is estimated to be worth several lakhs of rupees, said the SP, who expressed a sigh of relief as the growing theft, burglary, and lock-breaking incidents had become a major cause of concern.Around 150 cases of theft have been registered in different police stations this year, of which 44 have been solved with the arrest of these five accused.Police said the latest breakthrough came on the intervening night of December 26 and 27, after the SP received information about an attempted house break-in at K K Singh Colony. Acting promptly on the tip-off, a special raiding team was constituted under the supervision of the SDPO (Chas) Praveen Kumar Singh. “The team conducted a swift operation and arrested five individuals, including two juveniles, who were allegedly attempting to commit theft. Police recovered tools used in the crime, including a pickaxe, broken locks, and knives, from their possession,” the SP said.The arrested persons have been identified as Rohit Mehra (37), Badka Basphor (37), Sanjay Verma (51), Roshan Kumar (19), Mahesh Kumar Soni (51), Shashi Kumar Verma (39), and Neeraj Kumar Nayak (33). Mehra and Basphor had criminal histories. Shashi Kumar Verma is a resident of Siwan, Bihar, while the rest belong to different areas of Bokaro.The SP said that with their arrest, police solved 20 cases in the Chira Chas police station area alone. Sector-12 police station accounted for six cases, Balidih outpost five, Balidih police station four, Sector-4 police station four, city police station three, and Chas Muaffasil police station two, taking the total to 44 solved cases.