Prayagraj: Gang involved in Katra loot busted, four held

In a breakthrough, joint teams of Colonelganj police and special operation group (SOG) busted a gang of notorious looters and arrested four of its members, police said

In a breakthrough, joint teams of Colonelganj police and special operation group (SOG) busted a gang of notorious looters and arrested four of its members, police said.

One of the gang members received a bullet injury in his leg during the cross-firing with police teams early on Monday. (FOR REPRESENTATION PURPOSE)

The gang was involved in the loot of cash worth ₹6 lakh from iron traders at Katra on August 17. One of the gang members received a bullet injury in his leg during the cross-firing with police teams early on Monday morning. Looted cash of ₹4 lakh, three country-made firearms, ammunition, a car and a bike which they used in loot were recovered from their possession. Two accomplices of the accused are still at large, police said.

SSP Shailesh Kumar Pandey said acting on a tip-off police teams under station house officer (SHO) Colonelganj Ram Mohan Rai and SOG in-charge Rajesh Upadhyay surrounded the looters near IERT ground. The miscreants opened fire on the police team when asked to surrender. One of them identified as Shahenshah (22) of Kohdaur area of Pratapgarh received a bullet injury in his leg in police retaliation. His accomplices tried to flee but were nabbed after a chase. They were identified as Ashar aka Shebu (21) of Pratapgarh city, Wasid Ali (23) of Sarkhelpur in Pratapgarh and Shakti Singh (20) of Mauaima area.

During questioning the accused confessed to having committed loot of ₹6 lakh from cash counters of Laxmi traders and Chaudhrana iron store in the Katra area on August 27. Earlier on August 16, the gang looted cash of ₹40000 from a petrol pump in the Soraon area. For committing the loot, gang members stole a bike, police informed.

Shakti, who is a BA student was not involved in loots but gave information to his accomplices. Around a month ago, he had gone to Laxmi traders at Katra with his friend to buy iron rods and saw a huge amount of cash. Shebu, Shehenshah and others planned the loot when Shakti informed them that cash was collected at the counters in the evening.

Shebu is the kingpin of the gang, while Shehenshah is the most notorious among gang members. He has a dozen serious cases lodged against him at police stations in Pratapgarh and Prayagraj. Ashar has six cases against him while five cases were registered against Wasid.