Patna, Sept. 9: One Sanjay Prasad alias Pachaunia, arrested on charges of theft of watches in Delhi, has revealed that a homeguard was on the payroll of a gang of thieves.

Sanjay was arrested from Ghorasahan in East Champaran district on Monday. He reportedly told interrogators that he used to pay Rs 30,000 to homeguard Ramashankar after every incident of theft committed outside the state. “In turn, the homeguard jawan used to shield us from the local police teams visiting the district or personnel from outside the state,” he revealed.

East Champaran superintendent of police (SP) Sudhir Kumar Singh said the role of the homegaurd personnel was under the scanner of senior police officials. “We are probing his links with members of the notorious shutter katwa gang active in Gujarat, Punjab, Maharashtra and Delhi,” he told The Telegraph.

“His services may be terminated and he may face trial for abetment,” the SP added.

The SP said Sanjay was earlier arrested in Delhi, Punjab and Maharashtra on theft charges. The police recovered 36 cellphones and 125 wristwatches during the raid at Sanjay’s hideout at Ghorasahan, he said, adding that the watches were stolen from Dehli and the cellphones were stolen from Punjab.

The 10-member gang, was headed by one Nayeem of Ghorasahan. Another gang was led by Arun, a resident of Motihari, the district headquarter town of East Champaran, the SP quoted Sanjay as saying.

The members used to get commission from the leaders of the two gangs having their network across the country. Munna Sonar and Jitendra, both residents of East Champaran, were the receivers of the stolen articles, Sanjay divulged to the police.

The SP said raids had been launched to arrest the receivers of the stolen goods. A police team from Delhi arrived in Motihari after getting information about the arrest of Sanjay in connection with the theft committed in the showroom located at Connaught Place in Delhi.

A complaint was lodged with the Barahkhambha police station in Delhi in connection with the theft of watches worth crores on September 1. Sanjay further revealed that the plan was chalked out by one Gujnoo alias Ismael, a tailoring shop owner in Delhi.

A few members of the notorious gang have been identified as Rajan, Santosh, Bigu, Siyaram, Karan, Ajay, Vijay, Ranjeet and Pawan.

A senior officer said police teams from Delhi, Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have so far visited Ghorasahan in search of the members of the shutter katwa gang.