Four thieves arrested with Rs 1.51 crore cash

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The Government Railway Police (GRP) has seized Rs 1.51 crore in cash from a gang of thieves, who had stolen the amount from train passengers, a senior officer said on Wednesday.

Four members of the gang were arrested, said Aruna Mohan Rao, Additional Director General (Railway Police). Talking to reporters here, Rao said two complaints were received at the Khandwa GRP station stating that four persons posing as policemen carried out a search in Mumbai- Varanasi Mahanagari Express on March 13 at Khandwa.

During the search, one of the persons had stolen the bags of passengers while his accomplices kept them engaged in a chat, she said. Rao said according to one of the complaints, filed by Ahmedabad resident Mehul Patel, these persons in police uniform had stolen his bag containing Rs 3 crore in cash.

Another complainant, Vikash Yadav, was robbed of Rs 5 lakh, the police officer said. After checking footage of CCTV cameras, the GRP zeroed in on two suspects, identified as Akshay Kundwani and Devesh, both 22-year-old and residents of Damoh town in Madhya Pradesh, Rao said.

During interrogation, they admitted to committing both the crimes with the help of other accomplices, including Sanjay Jatav (38), a resident of Pachor (Rajgarh) and Narayan
Ahuja (19), a native of Itarasi who was also arrested, she said.

Rao said an amount of Rs 1.51 crore was seized from the four accused. Investigations so far have revealed that the cash which the complainants were carrying was related to hawala (illegal way of transferring money) and further probe in this regard was underway, she said. Those carrying the money were regular couriers of hawala money, she said.

Rao said after the investigations, the case would be handed over to the Special Task Force (STF) and the Income Tax Department. Efforts are being made to recover the remaining money,
the police officer said.

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