Religious gang of thieves who would spin coconut before robbing

Religious gang of thieves who would spin coconut before robbing

Mangalore Today News Network

Thane, Feb 04: Seeking God’s blessing before starting any work is common among believers, but this is quite one such case. A gang of thieves who used to perform pooja before robbing houses was arrested from Thane. The Navghar police have arrested four thieves who would get to a road junction and perform pooja there every night before the burglary. They would conduct the pooja with coconut, flowers and vermillion and the spin the coconut to see which road it would point to. Then the gang would head to the direction to breakthrough houses. There are three more members of the gang who are currently absconding.

Midday quoted Pratap Bhosle, the Navghar police inspector, said, “We received a tip-off about them when they were approaching the check naka, most likely to do their routine and find a new area to commit the crime in. My team laid a trap and got ready for these men at the spot before they reached. Four were arrested.” The accused who have been arrested were identified as Mohan alias Nirman Aarmogam Shetty, 25, Shaktiwel Nirmal, 41, Pravin Bhimrao Gaikwad, 25, and Yashwant Baban Mohite, 20. The police are searching for Ayyappa Narayan Shettiyar, Rohit Shashikant Shewale, and Himanshu.

The police seized four knives, two screwdrivers, one spring panha, four keys, coconut with flowers and two caps. Reportedly, the police records have found several cases registered against the gang at Mulund, Thane, Dombivli, Kalyan, Navghar, Navi Mumbai and many other places. The report quoted Akhilesh Singh, deputy commissioner of police (zone VII), as saying, “In their last house break-in, they’d robbed Rs 1.6 lakh. The house had been shut for many days; we found fresh flowers at the spot, and that matched with several crimes in other areas.”