Lollapalooza music fest: Seven held for stealing personal belongings of attendees

According to the police officials, the three Delhi based persons were identified as Vikash Pramod Jha (30), Saleem Shafiq Sayyed (37) and Imran Liyakat Ali (28) who work as a delivery boy, salesman and labourer respectively. They had come to Mumbai with the intention of stealing from people attending Lollapalooza.

The police said the complainant in the case is Shivani Rao (20), who visited the event with her brother on Sunday evening. She informed the police that she bought the tickets from an online portal and was carrying her father’s Sony Cybershot digital camera, an iPhone 13 and cash.

“Between 7pm and 7.15 pm, the complainant alleges that her wallet suddenly fell from her purse and when she went to pick it up from the floor, she noticed that someone had taken advantage of the crowd and stole her mobile phone, camera and also cash,” an officer said.

She looked for it for a while and when she could not find it, she went to Tardeo police station and reported the matter there.

The police recorded her statement, following which a case was registered under sections 379 (theft) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

The police team started looking for information on the suspects when they learned that three persons were to gather at Bodyguard Lane in south Mumbai.

“We laid a trap accordingly and as soon as they arrived, we inquired with them. We had also seen Sayyed and Ali hiding something and as they were giving vague answers, on the basis of suspicion we checked them and their belongings,” said an investigator.

The police team claimed to have recovered five mobile phones and a Cybershot camera from them.

The three accused were then taken to the police station following which they were placed under arrest late on Sunday. They were produced before court and remanded in police custody.

The officials further added that the four other arrested persons were Muneer, Sufiyan, Umar and Tanveer who are based in Mumbra and Malvani.

“The modus operandi of the gangs is to attend events across India and steal valuables by taking advantage of the crowd. After buying the entry pass, they arrived from Delhi a day earlier following which they went to the event and targeted people,” said an investigator.

The accused had also attended Sunburn festival in Goa and events in Bangalore and other metro cities and stole valuables from people there as well.