Three young men who cracked open glass windows of parked cars with a catapult and then made off with valuables kept inside have been arrested at Madangir in South-East Delhi.
The police claim to have recovered nine laptops, an Apple iPhone and a receipt of Muthoot Finance for Rs.75,000 loan against jewellery. The jewellery against which the gang procured loan was stolen from a Corolla car in Ghaziabad.
The accused - Rohit alias Rocky (20), Ravi (22) and Hemant (25) - travelling in a Maruti 800 were intercepted by a South-East Delhi Special Staff team on Virat Road on Saturday afternoon following a tip off and arrested. Two bags containing four stolen laptops, a catapult and 14 ball bearings were seized from their possession. The car found to be used in commission of crime was also seized, the police said.
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Later, five stolen laptops and an Apple i-Phone were also recovered. Three of the laptops were found to be stolen from the Vikaspuri, Mahendra Park and Desh Bandhu Gupta Road police station areas.
Rohit, the alleged gang leader, purportedly told the police that he earlier worked as a refrigerator mechanic, but then he came in contact with a local criminal Govinda and took to bag-lifting. He along with Ravi and Babu formed their own gang about six months ago. The stolen valuables were disposed of to Hemant, a resident of Hauj Rani. The gang would move around in their car to select a target -- a parked car with some costly gadgets or valuables lying inside. One of them would shatter the window glass with a catapult using a ball bearing as a projectile and his accomplices would then steal anything valuables kept inside. The accused have purportedly confessed to their involvement in several such cases in Delhi and its neighbourhood.