Four held for stealing 140m of cable from Delhi Metro’s Blue Line

Four members of an 11-member gang were arrested for stealing 140 meters of cable from Delhi Metro, disrupting operations on December 4.

NEW DELHI

The stolen cables were weighed in in Mustafabad and a portion of it was taken out. (Representative picture)

Days after 140 metres of cable wire were stolen from the Blue Line of the Delhi Metro, halting operations on the night of December 4, four people were arrested in connection with the incident, police said on Wednesday.

The cable was cut between Moti Nagar and Kirti Nagar Metro stations, following which a case was registered and a probe found an elaborate plan by an 11-member gang, officers said.

“They had identified the Metro duct on elevated tracks between Moti Nagar and Kirti Nagar tracks through a recce of the area. They typically exploit the cover of darkness to cut the cables after DMRC service cease for the night. The stolen cable carry no electricity and are highly valuable due to copper content,” joint commissioner of police Vijay Singh said.

The accused were identified as Rashid Malik, 26, of Baghpat, Shahrukh Malik, 29, of Old Mustafabad, Ramzan, 32, of Gokalpur, and Junaid, 32, resident of Ghaziabad. Rashid Malik, Faisal, Masoom and Junaid were identified as the masterminds of the gang, police said.

Technical surveillance and analysis of the modus operandi led police to the gang and the four members were arrested with the help of local intelligence, JCP Singh said.

DMRC principal executive director Anuj Dayal appreciated the quick action by Delhi Police. “This is a positive step in avoiding disruption of Metro services for the public and we hope will be a deterrent for others in future,” he said.

Police said that for the theft, which involved climbing and cutting cables, they hired specialist thieves—identified by first names as Islam, Nadeem, Siddhu and Teli—who used ropes and hooks to scale the Metro pillars to reach the track and cut the cables.

“They asked accused Shahrukh and Ramzan to reach the location shared by Faisal on WhatsApp. Both the accused parked the loader vehicle at some distance to avoid suspicion and once the cables were cut and thrown down, the loader vehicle reached the spot underneath the flyover and loaded the cables,” Singh said.

Rashid and another accused, Faiz, piloted the loader vehicle in their Honda Amaze car, police said.

The stolen cables were weighed in in Mustafabad and a portion of it was taken out. The remaining portion of the cable was initially shifted to a rented godown in Brijpuri and then transported to another location for disposal.