The Pune rural police busted a gang of armed robbers, who were specifically targeting isolated homes in remote areas close to the border of Pune and Ahmednagar districts over the last six months. With the arrest, the police claimed to have detected 18 cases of armed robberies and burglaries. Officials from Pune rural police said multiple cases of armed robberies and house break-ins were reported from areas such as Alephata, Shikrapur, Shirur, Ranjangaon, Narayangaon, Daund in Pune Rural jurisdiction and Belvandi and Parner areas of Ahmednagar district. Ankit Goyal, superintendent of Pune rural police, said, "We could see a pattern in these offences that included armed robberies, dacoities and house break-ins. The perpetrators were specifically targeting isolated houses away from the main village area along the Pune-Ahmednagar district border." Teams from the local crime branch worked meticulously on specific leads and succeeded in getting a breakthrough in these cases by busting the gang. "The probe so far has brought to light the involvement of this gang in 18 offences — 16 in Pune rural area and two in Ahmednagar," said Goyal. Officials said the first suspect in the case, Ajay Ulhasya Kale (26), from Parner in Ahmednagar, was apprehended on July 4. Working on the leads obtained during his interrogation, the local crime branch arrested the leader of the gang Ganesh Bhosale (28), a resident of Parner, on Tuesday. Police have arrested Kiran Bhausaheb Bedre (33), a jeweller from Walunj in Ahmednagar who had purchased the looted gold ornaments from the gang. The police team is now searching for three more suspected members of the gang. When asked about the modus operandi of the gang, Goyal said, "Our probe suggests that these suspects used to park the two-wheelers far away from their target houses and walk on foot. They used to rob residents of the houses by threatening them with weapons. They used to walk back to the vehicles and take the highway to go back."
