Nine members of an inter-State dacoity gang were arrested by the Cyberabad police on Wednesday for stealing huge quantities of copper wires and other electrical material from various construction sites.
Commissioner of Police V.C. Sajjanar said that the gang committed seven offences in Shankarpally, RC Puram and Dundigal, and Narsingi police station limits. Stolen property worth ₹ 55 lakh, including an SUV and 11 mobile phones were recovered from their possession.
The accused, Pradeep Kushwaha (27), Kuldeep (23), Madhav Singh (29), Dharmender Singh (32), Sanjay (21), hail from various parts of Rajasthan, while Nihal Singh (22), Shailendra Singh (22), Dharmendra (26), and Satyabhan Singh (23), are the native of Uttar Pradesh. They all worked as electricians at a same at New Delhi and got acquainted.
The police also arrested stolen property receivers, Manish Kumar (25), of Deepak Electricals, Kondapur and Govula Vijay Kumar (35), a scrap dealer from Hafeezpet.
The gang came to Hyderabad and worked as electricians during the day, and recce the premises. Between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. in the night they used to enter the construction site and decamp with the property, Mr. Sajjanar said.
In the last one week, the gang committed five offences, and last year they were involved two, he said.
"They used an SUV while committing an offence and threatened the security guard or the site incharge by brandishing a country-made pistol and tied them with ropes in a room, before they decamped with the material," the officer said.
The stolen property was sold to receivers Manish and Vijay Kumar at a cheaper price. For instance, if the market price of a material was ₹ 1,000, the gang used to dispose it at ₹ 400 or ₹ 500, which was later sold at prevailing market price by the receivers, Mr. Sajjanar said.
Police also found that the accused gang members were involved in similar offences in Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
After receiving similar complaints from different police station, a special team under the supervision of Shamshabad DCP N Prakash Reddy, Traffic DCP Vijay Kumar SM and Balanagar DCP PV Padmaja, were formed to nab the dacoity gang members who were also attacking the security guards and others in case resist.
The Commissioner advised the employers to verify the antecedents of the workers before hiring them and deploy sufficient security personnel on the premises.
