One held for spate of 9 armed robberies in 2 days in Pune

PUNE: One man was arrested by Pune police on Saturday while one other is on the run after they were found involved in nine armed robberies in two days in parts of the city

PUNE: One man was arrested by Pune police on Saturday while one other is on the run after they were found involved in nine armed robberies in two days in parts of the city.

One man was arrested by Pune police on Saturday while one other is on the run after they were found involved in nine armed robberies in two days in parts of the city. (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

The arrested man was identified as Omkar Vinod Masal alias Harshad Salim Shaikh, 22, a resident of Mangalwar peth area of Pune, according to the police. The one on the run was identified only as Ashish alias Guddu, a resident of New Mhada area in Ramtekdi, Pune.

The two bike-borne men had committed nine robberies in parts of the city within two days - Thursday and Friday. While six of these nine cases were registered on Thursday, the other three were registered on Friday, according to the police.

The two were roaming on a black Honda Dio two-wheeler and robbing citizens at knifepoint. After multiple complaints, the police first came close to catching them in Akashwani area of Hadapsar around 10:27pm on Thursday. However, the two fled before the police could reach. The victims reached the police station after a few hours and recorded their complaint. One complainant had sustained injuries on the chest while the other had injuries on his shoulder.

The ingredients of their complaints matched another call that the police on patrol saw the two looting a rickshaw driver Pandhremala area near Canal Road in Hadapsar on the next night. As the team of night patrol officials nabbed the two, one wriggled out of their custody and ran while Shaikh was arrested.

During interrogation he told the police that they started at 7pm on Thursday with Kondhwa and headed to Chandannagar before targeting people in Hadapsar. They injured a few people and fled with mobiles, wallets, cash, and gold chains. The police found nine mobile phones in the Honda Dio that was seized.

Shaikh has previous cases registered against him in Wanowrie, Hadapsar, Lonikand, Mundhwa, Khadak, Faraskhana, and Market Yard police stations along with Jamkhed in Ahmednagar. Assistant police inspector Vijaykumar Shinde is investigating the case further.