Gang of four busted for metro cable theft

The metro suffered losses worth crores because of the cable theft of such a high volume, the police said.

Delhi Police’s metro unit on Wednesday announced the arrest of a gang of four members involved in the theft of overhead cables on Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line.

Delhi Police’s metro unit on Wednesday announced the arrest of a gang of four members involved in the theft of overhead cables on Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line. (Hindustan Times Media)

The metro suffered losses worth crores because of the cable theft of such a high volume, the police said.

Dilshad (22), Ali Hassan (23), Imran (27), and Saddam (24) had allegedly been stealing the cables along the Magenta Line—inaugurated in December last year— for the past one month. They are former labourers at a project company of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

“We had received a complaint from DMRC on March 7 of theft of overhead cables between January 23 and March 5, this year, from the Kalindi Kunj depot,” Pankaj Kumar Singh, deputy commissioner of police (Metro), said.

DMRC said though services on the line had not been disrupted as backup cables were available, the thefts raised major safety concerns.

According to DMRC, 25kilovolt and 33kilovolt cables were stolen from multiple locations such as the ramp area (where the train tracks elevate from the underground station) of the Kalindi Kunj depot.

The police said that out of the property recovered from the gang, they managed 506 feet of 33kv cable, along with equipment such as saw, cutter, ropes and blades, used for the theft.

“Dilshad and Ali Hassan had worked in the project and were aware of the cable lines and also knew their way around getting to the tracks from the station,” the police said.

The men would cut the cables from the track and hide them either in the drain passing beneath the track or in the adjacent forests, they said. They would take out the cables to sell them at night.

The overhead cables are in high demand in the market because of the high quality of metal used to make them.

Other stretches where such thefts have been reported are Okhla Vihar to Jasola Vihar, Jasola Vihar to Kalindi Kunj, and Okhla Vihar to Jamia Nagar.

Since all these sections are elevated, the cables run along the track where CCTV cameras have not been installed.

Officials familiar with the matter said almost all thefts happened at night after the train services were terminated.