Four days after apprehending 36 people from Irani Colony in Bidar, the city police on Monday divulged startling information on the suspects. They police believe they were involved in at least 200 criminal incidents in other States as well, specialising in robbing people of their jewellery by distracting them and fleeing.
A team of 300 police personnel from Bangalore and Bidar had carried out a late-night operation at Irani Colony in Bidar on Friday.
So far, investigations confirmed that 27 of the detainees have criminal backgrounds.
“We have booked criminal cases against 27 persons and are looking for their accomplices,” a highly placed officer told The Hindu.
The police claimed the suspects have duped at least 200 people in Hubli, Dharwad, Mysore, Mangalore and Gulbarga, besides Bangalore. They had also allegedly cheated several people in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra, said the officer, who did not want to be named.
Preliminary investigations reveal that the gang members, who impersonated police officials, have duped people of gold ornaments worth Rs. 2 crore.
Surprisingly, the suspects have not found to be involved in a single criminal incident in Bidar. They lived in posh houses in Irani Colony and had a good reputation in the locality. Polyglots, they were fluent in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Gujarati, the officer said.
Their social standing made it difficult for the police to investigate their alleged crimes. Earlier, on a few occasions when the police visited the suspects' homes, women in the locality had created a ruckus, even attempting to throw chilli powder on the investigators.
“Hence on Friday night, we cordoned off the area with the help of 300 police personnel, including 50 women constables,” the officer said.
So far, 34 victims have identified the accused.
