Four held for stealing 185 mobile phones worth ₹20 lakh in Greater Noida

Gautam Budh Nagar Police arrested four suspects on Friday for stealing mobile phones worth ₹20 lakh from a shop at Kasna in Greater Noida

Gautam Budh Nagar Police arrested four suspects on Friday for stealing mobile phones worth ₹20 lakh from a shop at Kasna in Greater Noida.

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The theft was reported on May 21, when the suspects made their way into the mobile shop by cutting its shutter with a sharp object and decamped with 185 mobile phones.

The suspects have been identified as Anand Singh, Hira Singh, Ghanshyam Lal (all natives of Agra) and Sanjeev, who hails from Jewar. They stole the mobile phones from Dankaur resident Yatendra Nagar’s shop, located near Kasna city bus stand. A fifth suspect, identified as Changa, was also involved in the crime, police said.

“All the five accused used to work at nearby shops and planned the crime in advance. On the night of May 21, they broke into the shop by cutting its shutter and stole 185 smartphones,” said Vishal Pandey, additional deputy commissioner of police (Greater Noida).

A complaint in the matter was filed by shopowner Nagar at Kasna police station.

“On the basis of CCTV footage and electronic surveillance, the suspects were identified and three police teams were deployed to nab them. On Friday, they were arrested from Site 5 under Kasna police station limits in Greater Noida,” ADCP Pandey said.

Police recovered 112 mobile phones worth ₹15 lakh from the four suspects. “They distributed the stolen mobile phones among themselves. The fifth suspect in the case has the remaining mobile phones,” said Santosh Kumar, in charge of Kasna police station.

Kumar added that Changa has been arrested by Agra Police under the Arms Act in another case and sent to jail. “He is on our constant radar and we will recover the rest of the mobile phones from him soon,” he said.

The suspects have been booked under Section 380 (theft) and 457 (house-breaking by night in order to commit offence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Meanwhile, ADCP Pandey said that employers should always get police verification of their employees in order to avoid such incidents. “The suspects were working at other shops and the mobile phone shop was on their target for at least a month as they had done a thorough inspection of the area,” he said.

The police team that made the arrests has also been rewarded ₹20,000 by the Greater Noida DCP for cracking the case.