Munna and Guddu are the face of a large and highly successful Mobile Thief Gang. Unfortunately the cell business has landed them in a jail cell. Here is how their arrest has uncovered a high functioning mobile snatching business in the city.
A mobile snatching incident near the Metro cinema subway in south Mumbai on Thursday night has led to the recovery of about a dozen mobile phones following the arrest of four persons belonging to a mobile snatching gang. The Azad Maidan police has discovered during investigation that each of the four arrested accused had a specific role to play in the crime.
Those arrested have been identified as Munna Shaikh (26), Guddu Shaikh (23), Ganesh Jadhav alias Ganiya (21) and Praful (36). Munna and Guddu played the role of snatching mobile phones from pedestrians in south Mumbai. Once a mobile phone was snatched, it would be handed over to Ganesh who would sell it to Praful. The gang indulged in the crime to earn some easy money. It has also been revealed that Munna and Guddu used to consume drugs and are known to each other since seven years, however their past records are being scanned to find out if they were booked or arrested earlier too, police said.
THE INCIDENT
A 35-year-old lady working in south Mumbai was targeted on March 10 night at the underground subway located close to the Metro cinema in south Mumbai. The woman told the police that a skinny man had snatchedher expensive mobile phone while she was on a call. According to her complaint, the incident happened in just seconds, while she was on a call and was about to reach the steps of the underground subway. A man came running towards her from behind and grabbed her cell phone and disappeared in a jiffy.
SNATCHER DUO ARRESTED
After the lady's complaint was registered in the Azad Maidan police station, constable Vijay Kamble and a team of police personnel while patrolling at night received information regarding two men trying to sell an expensive mobile phone at a throw away price and were in a hurry to get their hands off the the cellphone. Acting on the information, Kamble questioned a few locals and food stall operators near Churchgate railway station which led them to Munna and Guddu who were arrested from Azad Maidan ground.
THE PLAN
The interrogation of the duo revealed that the two wanted money for their dose of dope. While walking towards the underground subway they spotted the lone lady talking on the phone and hatched a plan to rob her cellphone. The part of the plan was that Guddu would snatch the mobile and Munna would then sell the phone. After that the two had decided to meet near the Baba petrol pump at Fashion Street, said the police.
PASSING THE CELLPHONE
Detaining Munna and Guddu followed their detailed interrogations on Thursday night and they confessed to the crime. They also told the police that their friend Ganesh usually sold the stolen cellphones for themeach time they did a successful cellphone snatching. This time also the stolen phone was handed over to Ganesh who had paid them Rs.3,000 in cash and had promised to hand over Rs.1,000 more the following day. The cops then arrested Ganesh from Fashion Street on Friday andwas being interrogated who revealed that each time a stolen phone was given to him it was sold to Praful, a photocopy vendor from whom the police have recovered about a dozen cellphones hidden in a drawer in the shop where he worked. All the phones are suspected to be stolen, said the police.
THE COPS SAY...
Leading the investigation to unearth the gang's operations in south Mumbai, API Sachin Jadhav of Azad Maidan police station said, “The team investigated the matter for almost two days, at first it looked like a simple case of mobile snatching but by joining the dots it was discovered the case was extremely serious. We are inquiring with their past records and also the other police stations would be contacted to completely solve the mobile phone snatching cases if registered with them. We have booked the accused under sections 379, 411 and 34 of the IPC. The four accused were produced in the court yesterday and we have got their police custody till March 14.”