Inter-State Gang Busted; 4 Uttar Pradesh Robbers Arrested In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: With the arrest of four persons, Commissionerate Police on Monday claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of robbers involved in a series of cases in Bhubaneswar.

The accused were identified as Pradeep Kumar, (38), Vikash, (28), Rabi Kumar,(35) and Babu Ram (37), all from Shamli in Uttar Pradesh. They were nabbed during investigation of a series of gold chain snatching cases.

During probe, it came to the fore that the gang was operating from Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack City, Bhubaneswar, Puri and were wanted for as many as 28 cases in many police districts of the state, DCP Prateek Singh said.

The gang members hail from Samli in Uttar Pradesh and operate in all important cities of various states having transit base at Delhi. They have a unique mode of operation and are notoriously famous as  “Bawaria Gang“, he said.

Highly dreaded as professional criminals, the gang members use motorcycles to commit crime and tamper the number plates by scratching the digits so also changing the vehicles. They target gold chains of women morning walkers in the wee hours.

The gang members stay in hotels and change their location frequently to avoid police chase and arrest. They dispose of stolen gold in UP and repeat the same process within a gap of 15 to 20 days, police said.

Along with the arrest, 16 gold chains weighing about 200 grams, two two-wheelers, mobile phones along with other documents have been seized. Efforts are on to nab other gang members and recovery of stolen gold chains, a police release stated.

Police also informed that the gang was earlier active in Odisha between February-May this year and during June-August last year. The arrests were made after reading reading the crime pattern, their movement, area of operation and CCTV records. A case has been registered and probe is underway.

The release further shared that Bawariyas are notorious for a whole host of crimes like murder, rape, burglaries, road robbery, chain snatching, house dacoit with rape and murder and their name is enough to send shivers down the spines of villagers and commuters on road.

Operation Bawaria was an operation first undertaken by Tamil Nadu Police against organised dacoity, murder and robbery that were prevalent in residential areas near the National Highway during 1995 – 2006, carried out by a notorious group of lorry drivers who belonged to the Bawaria community, it added.