A Bengal-based gang allegedly travelled 500km quite frequently to rob passengers on trains passing through Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, police have found.
The 20-member gang headed by Mohammad Hanif, a resident of Baraipur village under the jurisdiction of Khardah police station in north 24 Parganas district of Bengal, is responsible for over two dozen incidents of thefts and loots in trains in Bihar, the cops believe.
Though Hanif is absconding, cops nabbed two of his associates Sunita Vaidya and Tumpa Vaidya last week.
The two were nabbed while trying to escape with valuables stolen from Patna Junction on Thursday. Some other members of the gang managed to give the police the slip.
Those who escaped are residents of Asansol, Burdwan, Muchipara (Durgapur) and Howrah districts of Bengal, sources in the Patna Government Railway Police (GRP) said.
Patna superintendent of rail police (SRP) Jitendra Mishra said the revelations about the robbers came to the fore during interrogation of the arrested thieves. The members of the interstate gang used to operate from a private lodge they had taken on rent in Patna's Jakkanpur police station area.
Disclosing the modus operandi of the gang, Mishra said they used to travel as bona fide passengers in trains and steal purses, mobile phones and other valuables from susceptible passengers. The gang also has several women as its members, police sources said.
Initial investigations have revealed that Hanif is wanted in over 100 incidents of theft in trains in Bengal.
At a particular time, the kingpin of the gang would visit Patna with his 10 members, who lived either in hotels or private lodges and returned to Bengal after accomplishing the task. At times, they used to hire local criminals for logistics. The next batch was assigned the same task after some time.
Hanif ensured his men were released on bail if arrested in Bihar. A police officer posted at the Patna GRP said a member of the gang was nabbed when she was trying to flee with a gold chain snatched from a woman passenger on a Gaya-bound train at Patna Junction last week.
"So far the police have come to know about the involvement of Hanif's gang in over two dozen cases in the past six months," a GRP official said, adding they have asked travellers to be cautious with strangers even if they seem to be suave or are travelling with women and children.
The Patna GRP has also nabbed some members of a UP-based gang. They belonged to UP's Mau, Devaria, Hardoi and Gorakhpur districts. The police also didn't rule out the involvement of another gang from Katihar in such train robberies.
Rebel threat
The Dev police in Aurangabad district on Sunday seized pamphlets purportedly pasted by Maoists on the wall of a house located at Jangi village.
The Maoists threatened to paralyse traffic in the district as part of a bandh to protest police action against the guerrillas in Bihar and Jharkhand.
Gold seizure
Vaishali district pice on Sunday arrested two smugglers and seized 1.750kg of gold worth Rs 50 lakh from them.
Superintendent of police Rakesh Kumar said acting on a tip-ff, cops raided Ganga Bridge Colony under Industrial police station area in Vaishali and seized the gold from the two smugglers, who had hidden the gold biscuits in their trousers.
The smugglers have been identified as Mohammad Fakhruddin, a resident of East Midnapur, and Najjo Shah, a resident of West Midnapur (both are districts of Bengal), the SP said.
