VELLORE: A seven-member inter-State gang has been arrested in connection with the series of train robberies in Vellore district.
With the arrest, the Government Railway Police (GRP) have claimed to solve the cases reported in the past couple of months in the Chennai section, besides cracking their network spread across the country. The gang used to operate during summer and targetted women travelling in sleeper coaches.
The arrested have been identified as B Mithun (25), J Sunny (alias) Khannia (23), J Krishan Kumar (28), J Ajay (22), J Bituram (22), B Deepak Kumar (19), P Mukeshkumar (36), all residents of Shamli district in Uttra Pradesh. The police seized 20 mobile phones and a few sovereigns of gold jewels from them. The accused have reportedly confessed to have stacked around 100 sovereigns in their home town.
The special team, formed under DSP Pornam following a series of robberies in the Jolarpet-Katpadi stretch, nabbed the gang which was loitering in the Latheri station late on Sunday evening. “The arrest was the result of intensified investigation by the special team. The gang is involved in several cases in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and also a few other States,” Superintendent of Police of GRP, Chennai District, P Vijayakumar told Express.
The gang is involved in more than 30 to 40 cases, including 11 in Tamil Nadu and 4 in Andhra Pradesh, since 2012. “The gang has been operating since 2012. They operate as a team and target the summer crowd on the Chennai-Bangalore route, particularly trains plying to north India from Chennai via Bangalore. For the rest of the year, they work in different places as casual labourers,” Vijayakumar said.
Their modus operandi is to pull the emergency chain and bring the train to a halt in places that have poor lighting. They then get down from the train and reach the passengers sleeping next to the window by climbing on fellow members.
In this way, the gang robbed made away with nearly 15 sovereigns from three women passengers last month. “We have collected information about some of the key members and their network. We will arrest them in the following days,” Vijayakumar added. The accused are also involved in the incident in which Railway police posted on a train opened fire when they pelted stones on them to escape after robbing passengers in Ongole, AP, a month ago.
