CCTV footage on social media helps police bust gang, detect 10 theft cases, recover items worth Rs 78 lakh

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The Nanded police have claimed of solving 10 house break‑in cases, recovering stolen property worth Rs 78.35 lakh with the arrest of five gang members. The breakthrough came after CCTV footage of the suspects started circulating on social media, generating leads that helped police identify and track down the gang.The CCTV footage showed three suspects involved in a burglary in Nanded's Pharande Nagar area. It went viral on social media almost a month back after a member of the burglary-hit family uploaded it on social media. A complaint in this regard was also filed with the police. Taking cognisance of the footage, superintendent of police Abinash Kumar directed police teams to scour the internet and social media platforms for leads.The Bhagyanagar police initiated a focused investigation using CCTV footage and technical surveillance. Inspector Santosh Tambe, along with the detection branch team led by sub-inspector Vinod Deshmukh, analysed multiple CCTV clips from the crime scene and other locations linked to similar offences across the city. The investigators also examined dump data and call detail records (CDR) to track the suspects' movements."Social media can act as a force multiplier in investigations when used constructively. In this case, circulating CCTV footage played a key role in identifying and tracking the accused, enabling us to solve multiple cases simultaneously," SP Kumar said.Based on technical evidence and other inputs, the police first tracked down three suspects last week, including a minor, from the Bavanagar area. During interrogation, they confessed to committing multiple house break-ins and revealed that the stolen valuables had been sold.Subsequently, the police arrested the remaining accused. The police identified the arrested as Sohail Abdul Sattar (19), Pradipkumar Virendraprasad Kori (19), Arjun Purushottam More (28), Sheikh Naim Sheikh Mainuddin (22) and Asha Harichandra Telang (56).The gang was found to be involved in at least 10 house break-in cases registered at the Bhagyanagar, Shivajinagar and Airport police stations.Police recovered 445g of gold ornaments worth Rs 68.80 lakh, 1,714g of silver ornaments worth Rs 4.54 lakh, along with a car, three motorcycles and other items totally worth Rs 5 lakh. Further investigation is being carried out by sub-inspector Vinod Deshmukh.