A member of a dacoit gang from Bihar, which used to drive to industrial units in trucks in the nights and take away copper wire bundles at knife-point, was arrested by Cyberabad police on Monday.
Three persons were also arrested for purchasing the stolen copper wire bundles from the gang and property worth Rs.45.5 lakh was recovered from them, Malkajgiri DCP K. Venkateshwara Rao said at a press conference.
Leader of the gang, Rajesh Yadav, 26, who masterminded the dacoities, and five of his associates are still at large.
Yadav, hailing from Bihar, was earlier arrested in two cases of murder for gain. He had allegedly beaten to death the guard of a factory at Pahadisharieff in 2006 and taken away copper wires from there.
A year ago, he and his gang attacked two workers of a godown at Shivarampally, killing one of them. The gang fled with valuable metal wires from the godown.
Out of prison
The gang was busted by Cyberabad police eventually. Yadav came out of prison two months ago. He formed another gang with Anil, Sanju, Santosh, Rangaeela and Dinesh and started targeting factories making copper wires.
The gang hired a truck and went to a factory near Shamshabad in the early hours of May 6 and decamped with property worth Rs.3.5 lakh.
Subsequently, they looted three more factories in a similar fashion at Jeedimetla on May 28, at Patancheru on June 2 and at Nacharam on June 6.
A special team headed by Malkajgiri ACP P. Radhakishan Rao found out that Rajesh was behind the dacoities.
While hunt was on for him, the police caught a member of the gang, Y. Jagdish Robert. Based on his confession, three property receivers - Mohd. Afsar Khan, Syed Ghouse Pasha and P. Srinivas - were held. The police are yet to find the trucks used by the gang.
