Head of gang specialising in theft from parked cars held in Odisha capital

Reported by Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, Jan 10:

The Commissionerate Police has busted a Tamil Nadu based gang of criminals and arrested its ringleader from the Odisha capital, said Commissioner of Police Dr RP Sharma here today.

The arrested person, identified as Shendil Kumar of Ramji Nagar in Tiruchirappalli district of Tamil Nadu, was running a gang many of whose members were also from the same state.

“Though our personnel were able to nab Kumar during a loot bid at Janpath in the city, 3-4 of his associates managed to flee from the spot, informed Dr Sharma.

Describing the modus operandi of the gang members, the Commissioner said they used to steal bags from the passengers of a parked car after first diverting their attention to currency notesscattered on the road near their vehicle. The gang leader used to involve 3-4 members to divert the attention of passengers or drivers of the parked vehicle. Once the driver or passenger stepped out of the vehicle, the thieves decamped with whatever was kept inside the vehicle, the commissioner added.

The gang members, who are experts in stealing articles from vehicles, were operating in other cities of the State as well. The gang was involved in the HDFC bank dacoity in Rourkela, he said.

The Commissioner further said the accused used attention diverting technique for robbing car passengers. The gang members used the stolen mobile phones after changing the SIM card, he informed.

“Most criminals in Ramji Nagar area have perfected the art of attention diversion which they use while stealing items from vehicles,” Dr Sharma said, adding, “Very soon we will send a team to Tamil Nadu to discuss with their police officials in finding a solution to these issues.”