Bengaluru division of RPF busts battery thieves

A gang of six thieves who stole batteries from railway coaches stabled at the Gollahalli railway station was nabbed by a team of personnel from the Bengaluru division of the Railway Protection Force (RPF).

In a release, the South Western Railway said that based on a complaint by the Electrical Branch of South Western Railway’s Bengaluru Division that batteries of AC coaches had gone missing on July 2, the RPF sleuths started an investigation. The RPF team was already on the lookout for a gang that was stealing railway property around Yeswanthpur.

A team of RPF personnel led by AK Tiwari, IPF/YPR and Sri R.D.Samudre, CI/CIB were on the lookout for this gang. With sustained efforts and raids, and with inputs from the local intelligence network, two members of the gang were arrested from Islampur. The third accused was nabbed on July 9 from Gollahalli.

For further investigation, members of the gang were taken into custody for 6 days from Special Economic Offence Court Bengaluru and on interrogation, further leads were obtained.

Based on the leads, two more members of the gang who had fled to Tumakuru were arrested on July 14.

Further, the special task force raided the premises of one of the gang members who received the batteries at Mawalli area Lalbagh and 15 railway batteries worth Rs 2.76 lakh stolen from Gollahalli railway station bearing the railway mark were recovered. The sixth member of the gang was arrested and produced before the court through video conference.