Three arrested for theft of laptops,mobile phones

All the accused are reportedly drug addicts and got into thefts to fulfil their need to buy drugs. Banson is a resident of Dadu Majra Colony while Chand and Tejwinder reside in Dhanas and Sector 40 respectively.

All the accused have cleared Plus Two. Banson has previously taught adult education to schoolchildren under a government-sponsored scheme at Palsora for a year. He had left the job a few months back after which his wife took up the job.

Addressing a press conference,Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Deshraj said,“We had been placing nakas at various points,but the nakas were not proving to be effective. Therefore,we decided that nakas would be placed for short intervals (15-20 minute) during patrolling so that people could not bypass us.”

The modus operandi of the accused was that Banson and Tejwinder struck at busy places and entered open rooms and stole unattended laptops and mobile handsets. Later,the stolen goods were disposed of with the help of other accused.

He added that the move worked,as Banson was arrested by a police team from Sector 23-24 light point while he was riding a motorcycle bearing a fake registration number. During verification it was found that the motorcycle was stolen from Sector 56.

During his questioning,he confessed that he had stolen a number of laptops and mobile phones from PEC,Panjab University and PGIMER and disposed them of with the help of Tejwinder and Nasib Chand. Chand ran a mobile repair shop in Dhanas and used the parts of the mobiles phones in the repair.

Police have recovered 11 laptops,14 mobile phones and a Kinetic Honda scooter from various places at their instance. With their arrest,police claimed to have solved 10 cases of theft; nine of them registered at Sector 11 Police Station and the other one at Sector 39 Police Station.

In other success,cops bust gang of thieves,arrest six

The UT Police on Monday claimed to have busted a gang of six thieves who used to strike at various ‘Apni Mandis’ and steal mobile phones and other valuables of unsuspecting people.

Interestingly,the accused had brought four juveniles from Jharkhand and trained them to commit thefts.

The accused have been identified as Bablu Kumar alias Gogla (20),Govinda Mahto (20),Gopal Kumar Mahto (19),Parmod Kumar (20),Titar Mahto (29) and Neeraj Kumar (20). All the accused are natives of Jharkhand and are not very educated.

Addressing a press conference,Charanjit Singh,Station House Officer (SHO),Sector 39 Police Station,said,“The accused were nabbed by a police party on Sunday from near Ziri Mandi roundabout while they were planning a dacoity. The six were arrested and a country-made gun,two knives and a toy pistol were recovered from them.”

During the police questioning the accused said they had come to Chandigarh around one and a half month ago and were residing at Hallomajra in a rented accommodation.

“They disclosed that they had brought four children,all aged between 8-12,and had trained them to steal mobile phones,purses in Apni Mandi and other areas in Chandigarh. The accused had collected the stolen mobiles and were planning to leave the city after committing a dacoity,” added the SHO.

The police recovered 65 mobiles of different makes worth around Rs 5 lakh from the rented accommodation of the accused at Hallo Majra and Raipur Kallan. The police party also rescued the four juveniles who had been brought from Jharkhand and were staying there. All the four have been sent to Snehalya,Maloya.

A case under various sections of the IPC and Arms Act has been registered at the Sector 39 police station. The accused were produced in court on Monday and remanded in three-day police custody.

‘Paid Rs 100 for every theft’

“We were paid Rs 100 for every theft. The accused did not give us sufficient food. My parents are not even aware of my whereabouts,” said one of the juveniles who used to study in Class III before he was brought here. They said all of them were made to stay in a single room.