The trio looted houses in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane; the same group was involved in the recent thefts at Maxima and Ambience Antilia in Hinjewadi and Bavdhan in December last month
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Three Ghaziabad residents who ran a well-organised inter-state burglary racket were detained by Crime Branch sleuths of the Pune Police. Investigations in the 16 house break-ins at Maxima and Ambience Antilia in Hinjewadi and Bavdhan area on December 26 helped the police in tracing the accused. Based on the CCTV footage from the societies and information on their modus operandi the team landed in Delhi to nab the offenders.
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The accused have been identified as Mushtaq alias Sherkhan Hajizafar Qureshi alias Babli Ramchandra Chaudhary, Nadeem Yusufbangali Qureshi alias Kapil Harbir Tyagi, and Bhagwan Dharamgiri alias Sudhir Chaudhari. Sherkhan Qureshi was apprehended from Indirapuram in Ghaziabad and arrested on Sunday afternoon. He then revealed the role of the other miscreants, who were subsequently arrested by the police.
The perpetrators travelled by air and road from Uttar Pradesh and met mid-way in Mumbai, stayed at a lodge in Lonavla and committed offences in nearby cities, police claimed. The gang has been operational since 2007 and has been involved in 150 offences in Mumbai, Pune and Thane.
In Pune, the offenders targeted areas like Hinjewadi, Pimpri, Chinchwad, Nigdi, Warje, Sahakarnagar, Bharti Vidyapeeth, Sangvi and Chatuhshrungi. Sunil Pawar, inspector, Crime Branch (unit III), told reporters, “With the arrest of this gang, the 16 house break-ins reported in a single day from Maxima and Ambience Antilia society in Hinjewadi area and four from Bavdhan area are now detected. The CCTV camera footages from these societies and the typical modus operandi had given inputs about two suspects. Based on this information, our team had landed in Delhi to nab the suspects.”
About the modus operandi, Inspector Pawar, said, “Bhagwan Giri used to drive his car from Delhi to Mumbai, while Sherkhan and Nadeem Qureshi used to fly and reach Mumbai. After reaching Mumbai, the suspects would book a room for eight days at a lodge in Lonavla, Thane or Navi Mumbai. They used to leave the lodge early morning and reach Pune by 11am. After identifying plush societies the suspects used to enter the premises and burgle valuables from the flats. They used to hide the instruments (used for breaking door latches) in their pants and park their cars outside the society so that nobody would get suspicious about their movements. The gang used to then return to Delhi and distribute the loot amongst themselves.”
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