BENGALURU: Eight more persons, including five juveniles, were arrested by the Cubbon Park police and Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths in connection with mobile phone thefts in and around the Chinnaswamy Stadium during the IPL match between RCB and SRH on March 28.
The mobile phones belonged to the spectators who had come to watch the match. With this, the total number of arrests in similar cases has gone up to 13. The police had earlier arrested five accused, including four juveniles. Of the 13, nine are juveniles.
The police have recovered 75 mobile phones in total, estimated to be worth over Rs 65 lakh. Of the 75 phones, 70 were stolen and the five were used by the accused for the offence.
The arrested are identified as Sohan Kumar, 19, Sanjeeth Kumar, 24, Eshal Kumar, 23. The mastermind, Shubham Kumar, 26, was arrested earlier.
“The investigation is ongoing. All the juveniles were produced before the Juvenile Justice Board and sent to a Government Observation Home. The other four accused are remanded to police custody. The accused are from Jharkhand and other North Indian states. After travelling to Bengaluru, they were staying in small hotel rooms. More than 50 complaints have been registered so far. Of the recovered phones, a few might have been stolen during matches at other venues across the country,” said an officer.
The accused had stolen the mobile phones from spectators in and outside the stadium and near Cubbon Park and MG Road Metro stations. Some of the accused had gained entry inside the stadium with complimentary passes.