Police have busted three gangs of thieves allegedly involved in stealing copper wires from electric transformers installed on agriculture feeders in Karnal, officials said.
Police said they have arrested 12 members of these gangs involved in the theft so far. Of the arrested accused, 10 belong to Uttar Pradesh and were living in rented accommodations in Karnal and nearby districts.
Harjinder Singh, head of detective staff of Karnal police, said acting on a tip off, three accused identified as Mohammad Hanif, Khalil Khan and Pappan, all residents of UP, were arrested from Ghogripur village of Karnal earlier this month for allegedly stealing copper and other material from transformers.
During the interrogation, they disclosed the names of members of other gangs including Mahender Singh of Delhi and Surender Singh of Gaziabad, who were then arrested from Delhi.
He said after tracking their contacts, Banti and Farman Ali of Bulandshar in UP, Joni of Badli in Sonepat and Munna Kabadi of Gonda in UP were also arrested.
Later, the third gang of transformer thieves was busted with the arrest of Pawan Kumar from Gautambudh Nagar of UP, Salinder Kumar from Barsalu village of Karnal and Mukeem Ansar from Badau of UP.
The head of detective staff said police have also recovered around 60kg copper wires and five Maruti Eeco cars and three kits used to open transformers from their possession. He said the arrests will help police in solving over 200 cases of transformer thefts in Karnal district alone as complaints of 360 transformer thefts have been registered so far.
{{/usCountry}}The head of detective staff said police have also recovered around 60kg copper wires and five Maruti Eeco cars and three kits used to open transformers from their possession. He said the arrests will help police in solving over 200 cases of transformer thefts in Karnal district alone as complaints of 360 transformer thefts have been registered so far.
{{/usCountry}}The accused confessed that they used to steal copper and other material from 4 to 5 transformers every night and then sell it to junk dealers in Delhi. Police said the accused will be produced in the court.