Five members of a interstate gold chain snathcing gang held

Gurugram: Five members of an alleged interstate gold chain snatching gang were arrested from different locations in Delhi’s Libaspur on Tuesday

Gurugram: Five members of an alleged interstate gold chain snatching gang were arrested from different locations in Delhi’s Libaspur on Tuesday. The suspects are said to have been active in Gurugram since January this year and are allegedly involved in more than 50 snatching incidents, police said.

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The gang members have been identified as Randhawa aka Ganga, Sandeep aka Sanju, Deepak, Rakesh, and Manoj, hailing from Shamli in Uttar Pradesh. All of them lived in rented accommodations in Delhi. They have been taken on police remand till Saturday and their arrest is pending in 38 cases outside of Gurugram.

They have been involved in cases across Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, and many other districts of Haryana. According to Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime), the suspects travelled from their village to Delhi and committed crimes in areas after reconnaissance. “The snatched gold chains and fled to their rented rooms in Delhi, returning to their village after committing nine snatchings,” he said.

“The suspects practiced by racing in crowded areas and markets in their home district in Uttar Pradesh. The men formed the gang to fund themselves and told family members that they worked in private companies as marketing executives,” Sangwan added.

Anand Kumar, the inspector who made the arrests, said, “During questioning, they revealed that Deepak surveilled targeted areas and Randhawa, the gang leader, carried out the snatchings along with Sandeep. They snatched gold chains from Sector 56, 57, 40, South City1, Sushant Lok -1 and 2, Sector 51 and Sohna Road,” he said.

According to police, the gang snatched gold chains from at least three women on June 18 and on June 2 in Sector 56 and 43 respectively, when the victims were out on morning walks. It came to light during the investigation that more than 50 criminal cases were registered against them in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana.

Investigators said that they have served jail time after getting arrested by respective state police due to which they changed locations and became active in Gurugram.

Sangwan said the suspects confessed to being involved in more than 18 snatching cases, but police strongly believe that they have committed more crimes in Gurugram. “The suspects snatched gold chains from only women and targeted senior citizens who were out on walks. They supplied the chains to other gang members who were responsible for selling them in other states,” he said.

He further added that ₹15,000 and two motorbikes were recovered from their possession, procured after selling chains snatched from two victims in Sector 56. Sandeep remained mounted on his motorcycle, while Randhawa approached targets and snatched chains, police said. Rakesh was responsible for selling the snatched gold chains. The suspects recently snatched three gold chains from Visakhapatnam. “Rakesh was declared a proclaimed offender by the court and was wanted in nearly 50 cases by different state police. He has been jailed over 30 times and was out on bail. His arrest is pending in over 50 cases,” Sangwan informed.