'Innocent' gang tips off cops about 'guilty' gang

NAGPUR: Butibori police have arrested four members of a gang that targeted locked or abandoned offices and factories in various industrial areas on the outskirts of the city and elsewhere. Ironically, a gang of thieves arrested by the cops tipped them off about the real gang behind this theft.
Police have recovered 15 computers and chairs, worth around Rs 4 lakh from the gang.
Butibori police led by subinspector Bharat Shinde swung into action after an offence was registered regarding theft of 20 computers worth more than Rs 6 lakh from an office that had been closed since long. The computers were stolen some time between October 16, 2010, and September 24, 2011.
Police have arrested Mohsin Abdul Rehman (23), Praful Kakde (20), Roshan Ambagade (21) and Pravin Bhalasakhre after learning about this gang from a rival group, which too had been arrested by the cops.
It is learnt that Rehman was the mastermind of the gang which targeted locked industries. "Mohsin's gang was trying to dispose off the stolen property but was nabbed. Police are hoping to recover the rest of the stolen computers soon," said police source. "It was not easy to zero down on this gang since the members are not regular criminals and so information about them was not easy to find," said an officer.
At the beginning of the investigation, Shinde and his squad had picked up a gang of thieves that usually stole abandoned iron and other metal scrap from industrial areas. They had arrested Israel Khan and five more members of his gang, after taking them into preventive custody for roaming around in the night.
This gang admitted to having committed several thefts at Wardha and MIDC in Hingna. Being in the similar type of criminal activities, this gang had provided Shinde and his men clues about the actual thieves behind the computer theft.
Police said that most locked industries are left with poor security system, with usually only one guard on duty for the entire place. This makes it easy for criminals to burgle such places.