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Hindustan Times
4 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Gujarat: Interstate metro cable theft gang busted; 4 held with 368 kg copper wire
Ahmedabad: The Gandhinagar police on Saturday arrested four men from Kalol, Gujarat, allegedly part of a 13-member interstate gang suspected to be behind 35 metro cable thefts across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi, and Madhya Pradesh, and recovered over 368 kg of processed copper wire worth ₹8 lakh. 'The accused identified themselves as part of the Khekada (also spelt as Khekra) Gang, named after their home village in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district. They first targeted Delhi Metro about 10 years ago, stealing cables at midnight in areas without CCTV coverage. They used rented self-drive vehicles, like those in Gujarat, to execute their heists,' Diwansinh Vala of Gandhinagar's Local Crime Branch said. The police also seized industrial cable cutters, mobile phones, and a Kia Carens vehicle from their possession. Investigation started after a theft complaint from Gandhinagar's old Koba metro station was registered on June 2, a day before the IPL cricket match finals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The thieves had made away with 700 metres of metro cable during the late night, an officer said. 'The theft had lead to an outage around 3 am, however the train services commenced at 7 am, the usual time,' a Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation official said. With the help of the city's Netram Project surveillance and technical analysis, investigators traced suspicious vehicles to a rented house in Ahmedabad's Kalol, where four accused were found processing stolen cables. The gang had been stripping copper from metro cables to transport it to Delhi by train through an elaborate network. The technical data shared by the Delhi police shows 95 undetected Delhi Metro cable thefts over the past two years, which could be linked to the Khekada Gang, Vala said, adding the accused will be facing charges under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 74 of the Metro Railways Act, 2002, with up to seven years' imprisonment, a fine, or both. This was the gang's third theft in Gujarat within two weeks, following incidents on May 22 and June 5, Vala said. Around 500 metres of power cables worth ₹9 lakh was stolen from the tracks near Shahpur station on May 22, disrupting the metro services. The arrested individuals --- Mushraf Irshad Mulejat (32), Rashid Ishaq Ismail Dhobi (21), Rashid Abdul Aziz Shabbir Ansari (45), and Irshad Majid Allameher Malik (33) --- are residents of Baghpat district in Uttar Pradesh. Nine other gang members — key operative Raja Qureshi from Ghaziabad, who allegedly financed operations and acted as the primary receiver of stolen goods, according to police, and wanted accused Shahejad Amarudin Malik, Aamir Akbar Malik, Arif Babu Malik, Iklakh Ikbal Malik, Imran Malik, Arif Rafik, Sonu Babu Kasar, Arshad Asgar Malik, and Bilal Qureshi — remain at large. The police said that the accused revealed their modus operand during the investigation. The gang would travel to cities with operational metro lines, rent accommodations near railway stations, hire vehicles through online platforms, and conduct detailed reconnaissance of metro routes before carrying out thefts during late-night hours. 'Their method involved identifying metro bridge pillars with adequate tree cover or wall support, using ropes and industrial cutters to access overhead cables. The stolen material would then be transported to pre-arranged safe houses where plastic coverings were removed and valuable copper separated for onward sale. In Gujarat, the total value of the goods they stole in three cases was around ₹29 lakhs,' the officer added. 'In Delhi alone, the gang confessed to 14 separate thefts, including 10 incidents at Majlis Park Jahangirpura metro station. In the case of Maharashtra, they admitted to 12 thefts in Pune and six in the Panvel-Navi Mumbai area. The group has also conducted operations in Madhya Pradesh,' the officer said, adding that many of their crimes had not yet been formally registered, indicating the true scale of metro cable theft may be significantly underreported across the country.
Time of India
13 hours ago
- Time of India
Interstate gang behind 35 metro cable thefts busted in Kalol in Gujarat, four arrested
Ahmedabad: As cricket fans cheered the IPL thriller in the city, a gang of thieves quietly dismantled 700 metres of cable from a metro corridor near Koba Circle. Police later discovered this was not their first hit. A surveillance-led crackdown revealed the group's involvement in over 35 such thefts, with operations stretching across cities. The arrest of four men uncovered a vast network of interlinked crimes. Their latest heist, carried out on the night of June 2, saw the gang strike near the Old Koba Metro Station, causing damage worth Rs 17.85 lakh. This was the third metro cable theft in the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar corridor in just two weeks. Using CCTV footage from the Netram Project and technical surveillance, investigators from the Gandhinagar local crime branch identified two suspicious vehicles involved in the crime. Subsequent questioning of the vehicle owners and suspects, combined with information obtained from technical surveillance, led the cops to Kalol, where the suspects had rented a property to hide and process stolen goods. The police conducted a raid, only to catch the gang members in the act of stripping the stolen cables for copper wires. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Buy Brass Idols - Handmade Brass Statues for Home & Gifting Luxeartisanship Buy Now Undo They seized a significant amount of stolen property, including 368.8kg of copper wires valued at Rs 2.95 lakh and 130.2kg of plastic. Police also seized a car and mobile phones, bringing the total value of recovered property to Rs 8.32 lakh. Further interrogation and technical analysis revealed the involvement of 13 individuals in the metro cable theft scheme. . The gang members admitted to multiple thefts at different locations, including near the Shahpur Metro Station in Ahmedabad and the Gyaspur Metro Station in Vejalpur, Ahmedabad. Those arrested include Musharraf Mulejat, 32, Rashid Dhobi,21, Rashid Ansari, 45, and Irshad Malik, 33, all residents of Bagpat in Uttar Pradesh. The absconding gang members are Shehzad Amruddin Malik, Aamir Akbar Malik, Arif Babu Malik, Ikhlakh Iqbal Malik, Imran Malik, Arif Rafiq, Sonu Babu Kasar, Arshad Asgar Malik, Bilal Qureshi, Raja Qureshi, and Masoom Yasin Malik. This relentless gang employed sophisticated tactics in each operation, including reconnaissance of metro routes, climbing metro pillars to cut cables, and transporting stolen goods for sale in different cities. Modus Operandi The gang executed their operations by targeting cities with functioning metro networks. Upon arrival, they would check into hotels located near railway stations and rent large self-drive four-wheel vehicles, often using platforms like Just Dial. After obtaining a vehicle, they contacted local brokers to arrange rental accommodations that served as storage and processing spaces for the stolen materials. Prior to committing the thefts, the gang conducted thorough reconnaissance of metro routes using their rented cars. To access the overhead cables, they employed techniques such as using ropes and the support of large trees situated near metro bridge pillars, or by climbing adjacent walls close to the pillars. Equipped with large cutters, they would then sever the metro cables. After the theft, the stolen cables were transported to the rented property. There, the gang meticulously stripped off the plastic and rubber coverings to isolate the copper wiring. The extracted copper wires were then bundled, packed, and transported by train from Kalupur Railway Station in Ahmedabad to Delhi, where they were sold.
