After gunshots, probing CCTV visuals | Police bust gang involved in bid to steal sandalwood trees in Pune

According to police, a gang of thieves entered the open premises around an old closed bungalow on the Abhinav School Road in Erandwane around 2.30 am on October 22.

Two constables from Deccan Gymkhana police station Mahesh Tambe and Ganesh Satav, who were on night patrolling, spotted them moving suspiciously.

When the two were questioning the suspects, they allegedly attacked the constables with sharp weapons.

Tambe sustained injury on his hand in the incident. As the suspects started fleeing on their bikes, Tambe opened fire at their legs and bike wheels with his service pistol in an attempt to stop them. But the gang managed to flee.

An FIR was registered against them at the Deccan police station under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 310, (1), 121(1) , 132 and sections of the Indian Arms Act, stated a press release issued by senior police inspector Girisha Nimbalkar.

A police team comprising inspector Nimbalkar, sub inspector Mahesh Bhosale, Ajay Bhosale, Dattatraya Sawant launched a search for the accused. Crime branch team led by inspector Shabbir Pathan also joined the probe.

“During investigation, police checked about a hundred videos captured by CCTV cameras at different locations. A technical investigation of mobile phone data was carried out. Information was gathered through our informers. Probe by the detection branch of Deccan police station and crime branch officials revealed the involvement of a gang of sandalwood thieves from Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar district. Our team then nabbed an accused Asif Golwal,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone 1) Sandip Singh Gill, during a press conference Sunday.

Investigation confirmed that Asif’s aides Shahrukh Kadirkhan Pathan and Farukh Khan Kadirkhan Pathan had received bullet injuries during the firing on October 22, the press release stated.

Police said both the injured accused took treatment, but later went into hiding along with three more accomplices identified as Nadimkhan Latifkhan, Ferozkhan Sharifkhan and Najim Khan Sadukhan.

Police said that accused are known to have committed more offences and so there is a possibility of invoking the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the gang of sandalwood thieves during the further course of action.

Police are also probing whether the accused have links with the larger sandalwood racket.

Police said an investigation is on to know whether six accused persons were either directly involved or in contact with the persons who committed multiple sandalwood thefts recently in the Pune city, including three in the jurisdiction of the Deccan police station.

A sandalwood tree worth Rs 40,000 was stolen from the premises of the Shivrai bungalow on the Shirole road around 4.30 am on October 2.

On October 6, unidentified persons committed a theft of sandalwood log estimated at Rs 25,000 from the Chhaya society on the Law College Road around 2.30 am.

In the early hours of August 11, a gang of about eight people uprooted and stole a 70-year-old sandalwood tree from the premises of a bungalow in Bharati Nivas colony, Erandwane, in Prabhat road area.

The FIRs over three incidents were lodged at the Deccan police station.