Excelsior Correspondent
KATRA (Reasi), May 26: With the arrest of 20 thieves, Katra police today busted an inter-State gang allegedly involved in committing thefts at Katra, Mata Vaishnodevi Bhawan and other places en-route Bhawan. The pilgrims were their soft targets.
SSP Reasi, Tahir Sajjad Bhat and Additional SP Katra, Sameer Kotwal told media-persons here that acting on a complaint of pilgrim, Parmod Verma from Mahanpur in Kathua, who mentioned that his Abdroid mobile phone and Rs 23,800 cash was stolen from bathing Ghat at Mata Vaishnodevi Bhawan, a special police team under the supervision of SDPO Bhawan, Sachin Gupta started investigation. The team led by SHO Bhawan Rajesh Sharma in civil dress at Bathing Ghat enhanced vigil and nabbed a thief red handed.
He was placed under sustained interrogation. He broke down and revealed the names of other members of the gang. Twenty members of this gang mostly hailing from UP, Bihar and Delhi were arrested. Some of them had hired rooms at Katra in different hotels. They used to give slip to the pilgrims enroute Bhawan or at Bathing Ghats and used to steal their mobile phones and cash.
The police recovered 40 Smart phones ( Apple, Samsung, Vivo, Motorola etc) having cost of more than Rs 9 lakh from their possession besides some cash. Nine owners of the Mobile phones have been traced so far. The arrested thieves revealed that they arrived Katra on last Friday and booked rooms in different hotels.
After committing thefts during night hours at bathing ghats at Bhawan, they used to come back to Katra base camp. After taking rest during the day, they again used to leave for their job during evening. They also disclosed the identity of some locals helping them. A case FIR has been registered against them.
Those arrested were identified as -Mohd Shakeel, son of Mohd Shamim from Delhi; Javed, son of Mohd Aslam from Nand Nagri, Delhi; Azhar Saddiqi, son of Mutaiz Siddiqi from Sahibabad Delhi; Farhan Hussain, son of Shrieful Hassan from Begum Ganj, Kanpur, UP; Mohd Ashu, son of Mohd Imtiaz from Ompuri, Kanpur UP; Mohd Sameer, son of Raju Mohd from Kanpur, UP; Allah Rakha, son of Abdul Ansari from Bajaria Kanpur, UP; Buri, son of Kamlohdin from Kamalganj Kanpur, UP; Anees Ahmed, son of Riaz Ahmed from Gautampuri Delhi; Shams-ul-Hassan, son of Javed- ul-Hassan from Nand Nagri, Delhi; Shahid Alam, son of Mohd Sadiq from Unavopur, Karnal Ganj Kanpur , UP; Dilshad, son of Late Saddiq from Purniya Kanpur UP; Ashu Pardav, son of Mohd Lalu, resident of Karnal Ganj Kanpur UP; Mohd Shafi, son of Manju Din Unavo Sukhla, Ganj Puni Road, Jhanda Chora UP; Sonu, son of Umar from Nand Nagri Delhi; Mohd Riaz, son of Mohd Razab from Karnal Ganj, Kanpur UP; Mohd Zeeshan, son of Mohd Shakeel, resident of Malam district Hardoi Bihar; Mohd Basu, son of Ashfaq from Tugnia Park Kanpur UP; Mohd Shoaib, son of Irshad Ali from Karnal Ganj Kanpur and Anil Kumar, son of Lok Nath, resident of Bindor, teshil Khagdia in district Patna, Bihar. The police was looking for their local contacts here.
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