Gang of four ‘itinerant’ burglars held in Hyderabad

According to Crime Branch sources, the gang of four men was arrested in the last week of March by a special crime team of the Hyderabad police in connection with a string of burglaries in that city. While being interrogated, the quartet allegedly confessed to have committed similar crimes in Mumbai as well as Delhi.

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The Hyderabad police subsequently informed the Mumbai Crime Branch about the arrests. “The arrested accused would keep travelling to various cities every 15 to 20 days. On reaching a particular city, they would check into a hotel and then start prowling the locality, looking for residential societies with lax or no security measures. Once they had identified four to five such buildings, they would return to the buildings dressed in formal attire and armed with tools used for breaking into houses. Posing as salesmen or marketing executives, they would traverse the entire building and break into any house they found locked, stealing whatever they could lay their hands on,” said a Crime Branch officer.

The quartet has allegedly told the Hyderabad police that they had come to Mumbai late last year, stayed in a hotel on the Mohammed Ali road, and burgled several houses in the area. The information was then conveyed to the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, and the Unit I was instructed to look into the matter.

When contacted, inspector Shyam Babu with the special crime team of the Hyderabad police confirmed that the gang had been arrested but refused to divulge details. “We have arrested the accused but I can not reveal any more information. I have informed the Mumbai Crime Branch about the matter,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni confirmed that a team would soon be leaving for Hyderabad to probe the matter further.

gautam.mengle@expressindia.com