9 juveniles among 13 caught for phone theft at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium

BENGALURU: City police have arrested 13 persons, including nine juveniles from Jharkhand, for allegedly stealing at least 70 mobile phones from spectators during the IPL inaugural match at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 28.

On the night of the match, several spectators approached Cubbon Park police reporting the theft of their mobile phones. Suspecting an organised gang, and noting similar incidents during IPL matches in Chennai and Mumbai last year, police formed special teams to investigate the case.

Using digital evidence, officers traced and arrested one of the key accused, Shubham Kumar, 26, from Jharkhand. He was found staying in a hotel near Shivajinagar. During interrogation, Kumar confessed that he, along with a group of minors, had travelled to Bengaluru two days before the match with the sole intention of stealing mobile phones in and around the stadium.

Based on his statement, police detained three minor boys and recovered 21 stolen phones from them. The juveniles were later sent to a juvenile home.

Investigations initially hit a setback after other suspects fled the city. However, police tracked them and sent teams to Jharkhand and Odisha, where the remaining accused were arrested.

Apart from Shubham Kumar, the arrested include Eshan Kumar, 23, Sanjeeth Kumar, 24, and Sohan Kumar, 23. Police recovered a total of 75 mobile phones, of which 70 were stolen and five belonged to the accused.

DCP (Central) Akshay M Hakay said the four adult accused were produced before a local court and taken into police custody. "We are verifying their antecedents to see whether they have been involved in similar crimes in other places or only in Bengaluru," he said.

Police said most thefts occurred inside the stadium near gates 1, 2 and 3, and at stand P3. Additional incidents were reported near Cubbon Park Metro station as crowds exited after the match.

Victims lose money in fake IPL ticket website
City police have registered a suo motu case against miscreants duping public of money on the pretext of selling online tickets to Sunday's IPL match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

The case has been registered with Hulimavu police station. According to a preliminary assessment, at least six victims have lost around Rs 50,000 through the fake website under the name ‘IPL Dhamaka Sale', said DCP (Electronics City), M Narayana.

The complaint registered by constable Ramakrishna, who works in the cybercrime wing, said, "On Saturday, while surfing Facebook, I came across a link, announcing that they are selling tickets for Sunday's IPL match. The original website run by the authorities had clearly mentioned that all the tickets were sold out. The fake website is duping victims of money with false promises of IPL tickets."