Robbers from MP involved in rifle snatching busted

Probing the recent assault of a policeman and rifle snatching in Kodigehalli, the Northeast police busted an interstate gang of thieves belonging to the Bhill tribe in Madhya Pradesh.

They arrested five of the gang members - Rai Singh (35), Ajambai Singh (25), Chethan Remasingh (19), Suresh Khodria Meher (19), and Abubai Singh Meher (21) - from Bagoli village in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district.

A team of city police officers is still camping in the village to arrest three more of the gang members, including a booty receiver.

The police learnt that prime accused Rai had snatched the rifle from the constables and discarded it at an isolated place in Yelahanka New Town. Four police personnel were suspended for dereliction of duty over the incident.

In the early hours of January 18, special teams, headed by S Girish, DCP Northeast, were formed to capture the thieves. Gathering clues from CCTV footage, the probe team traced the gang to Bagoli village. The police also learnt that the gang belonged to the Bhill tribe, known for criminal activities.

While women, children and the elderly belonging to the tribe stayed at home, men -   including teenagers - travelled to metro cities by bus and robbed homes in extension layouts and the outskirts.

Finding them proved challenging since the gang would stay in bus stops and railway stations. They survey the area in the morning, identify locked houses and rob them in the night. They would lock neighbouring houses from the outside before the theft.

The gang also raided houses in Mysuru, Tumakuru and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh, some areas in Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh before heading home.

The police team that went to Bagoli had a tough time arresting Rai, as the tribe got together and launched a protest. But they somehow managed to bring Rai to Bengaluru for interrogation, when he disclosed the names of the other gang members.

When another team visited the village to arrest the gang members, the tribe gheraoed the police, threw stones at them with catapults and assaulted them with weapons resembling bows and arrows, a senior official said.

The Madhya Pradesh police, Indore range, arrested four other robbers by shooting three of them in the legs.