Police nab MP man for drugging & robbing pax along interstate bus routes

The Swargate police have arrested a 63-year-old man from Madhya Pradesh (MP) who allegedly drugged passengers travelling by state transport (ST) buses across Maharashtra and Gujarat before robbing them; the police said on Tuesday

The Swargate police have arrested a 63-year-old man from Madhya Pradesh (MP) who allegedly drugged passengers travelling by state transport (ST) buses across Maharashtra and Gujarat before robbing them; the police said on Tuesday.

After registering a case, the Swargate police formed an investigation team under the supervision of senior officers. (REPRESENTATIVE PIC)

The accused, identified as Babu Bhurekhan, a resident of Mandsaur district in MP, would allegedly pose as a businessman named Sanjay Agarwal to gain the trust of fellow passengers before offering or sharing with them food spiked with sedatives and subsequently robbing them.

The arrest follows an investigation into a robbery reported on August 20 this year when an elderly passenger travelling from Borivali to Swargate by a Shivshahi bus was allegedly drugged and robbed of a gold ring weighing 10 gm. According to the police, the accused posed as a well-to-do businessman dressed in a safari suit. During the journey, he allegedly spiked the food consumed by the elderly passenger with Alprax 0.5 mg (sedative) tablets leaving the latter unconscious and stealing his valuables.

After registering a case, the Swargate police formed an investigation team under the supervision of senior officers. The investigation led the police to Bhurekhan, who was traced to Ujjain in MP and taken into custody with the assistance of the local police.

During interrogation, the police linked the accused to three other cases involving a similar modus operandi. The three cases include a case registered at Ramtek police station in Nagpur on September 1, and another at Dwarka police station in Gujarat. The accused is also suspected of involvement in the Swargate robbery. The police said that they recovered a bar of gold weighing approximately one tola valued at ₹1.40 lakh in connection with the Swargate case. They also seized 30 Alprax tablets, allegedly used to incapacitate passengers. The police are investigating the full extent of the accused’s activities across ST routes in Maharashtra and Gujarat.