The Delhi Police on Sunday busted a gang who used to steal underground cables by posing as BSES workers. The police arrested five people, including an ex-MTNL contractual worker, for the theft of MTNL phone cable.
The police said that the gang leader, Shahid alias Khurana, along with his four associates were involved in at least 13 cases of MTNL cable theft. The equipment used for committing the thefts have been recovered.
According to the police, an MTNL employee had approached the New Ashok Nagar police and registered a theft complaint on December 12, following which a case was registered.
During investigation, Mukesh Rai and Rajesh Kumar were arrested. One JCB machine, 127 feet of MTNL cable, an iron wire for traction of underground cable and some other equipment used in theft was recovered from their possession.
Fake ID cards
After their interrogation, the police conducted several raids and on Monday Shahid was arrested from Sarai Kale Khan bus terminal.
“Upon interrogation, the arrested persons told us that they had committed similar thefts in various areas of the city. They used to pose as workers doing some project for BSES. They also had fake ID cards. After committing the theft, they would sell the cable to a scrap dealer,” said Omvir Singh, DCP (east).
The scrap dealer has been identified as Aarif who runs his shop in R. K. Puram Sector 3. He is absconding but a police team has been formed to nab him, said a police official.
