The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police on Wednesday arrested six people and claimed to have busted a gang allegedly involved in the theft of surgical instruments from major government hospitals of the city. Stolen items worth Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2.90 lakh in cash were also recovered,the police said. The arrested,identified as Deepak Kumar,Mahender,Satender,Vinod,Amar Nath and Harish Joshi,were allegedly involved in theft of surgical goods from hospitals like AIIMS,Safdarjung Hospital,Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital,Hari Nagar,Baba Bhim Rao Ambedkar Hospital,Rohini,Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital and Guru Gobind Singh Hospital,Tagore Garden,among others. The Crime Branch unearthed the racket following an increase in thefts at hospitals. We visited the hospitals,studied the criminals modus operandi and zeroed in to Deepak Kumar,who is employed as a nursing assistant at Safdarjung Hospital and is attached to the Operation Theatre, Neeraj Thakur,Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime),said. We received information on December 27 that Kumar and his associates would come near the Safdarjung flyover to hand over a consignment of stolen goods, Thakur said. Kumar,Mahender,Satender and Vinod were arrested on the spot; Amar Nath and Harish Joshi were arrested later. Police said that during interrogation the accused confessed to stealing surgical and other items from government hospitals since 2004. They used to commit the thefts on weekends or before any holiday between 9 pm and 1 am. They would break open the locks or cut the window grills, Thakur said. Amar Nath,a co-accused,is employed with the Central Public Works Department as a pump operator. Harish Joshi owns Sai Surgical,a medical shop in Bhagirath Place market,from where he used to send the stolen surgical items to buyers all over the country.
