BENGALURU: In the first major incident of crime reported post COVID-19 lockdown within the Bengaluru Railway Division, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) nabbed a four-member gang involved in stealing rails left outside Makalidurga station.
In total, 35 Metric tonnes of steel belonging to the South Western Railway (SWR) Zone valued at Rs 7 lakh, had been seized.
According to a highly placed RPF source, “A four-member gang stole it from the station premises. One of them, who is the mastermind behind it, planned to manufacture blades by melting them at two units at Dobbaspet in Tumukuru. He was arrested on Monday (June 29) night along with another accomplice while two of them were nabbed on June 24.”
The pieces of rails were left in the vicinity of the station, located 60 km north of Bengaluru without any security.
'The incident happened on June 23 and within 24 hours a complaint of the theft registered by officials of the Construction Division of SWR, two of those involved in the theft were nabbed', the source said.
The manufacturer in Tumukuru had brought a truck outside the station last week, loaded the stolen raw material and left, he added.
'One of the units was raided in Tumukuru and 30 per cent of the steel was seized during that time. In the second raid on Monday night, the remainder was recovered along with additional steel in their possession,' the source added.
The equipments used to melt the steel and make blades from them have also been seized.
'They have all been produced in court and two of them are in jail while two others have been handed over to the RPF for interrogation,' the source said.
A similar incident was reported four years ago in Mysuru Railway Division and the culprits were yet to be traced.
'We are suspecting their role in that incident too and are interrogating them.'