Hyderabad: When CCTV footage, dog squad and IT wings failed to give definite clues, the time-tested fingerprints helped the Rachakonda police to crack the ECIL mobile heist by the notorious 'Alam gang'. More interesting is the fact that the fingerprint was taken from one of the accused, Sattar, in a case registered against him 20 years ago when he was a juvenile offender.
After facing a tough time, the police nabbed the two accused robbers, belonging to the ‘Alam gang’, on Thursday for stealing 432 mobiles worth Rs 70 lakhs from Bajaj Electronics store at ECIL X roads on the intervening night of September 20 and 21 in Hyderabad. As the robbers concealed their faces, it became a challenging task for the police to identify them based on CCTV footage.
The clues team, dog squad, SOT, CCS, and IT wings of Rachakonda also inspected the crime scene and gathered some evidence but to no avail. After careful evaluation of footage from over 500 cameras by 10 police teams deployed by the Kushaiguda division, the route taken by the accused from the Jawahar Nagar area, along with their facial description, was acquired.
The autos, which they used for conveyance between ECIL and Ambedkar Nagar, were identified. Sources said that the accused were nabbed finally on the basis of a fingerprint at the crime scene identified by the police team led by DSP Nandakumar. The fingerprint was later analyzed by the forensic team which traced it to Sattar, a member of the Alam Gang and included in a list of 3,000 criminals.
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Once Sattar was identified, it eventually led to the arrest of the two other gangsters. The second accused has been identified as Asidul Sheikh (20). The duo, as per police is part of the Alam Gang along with Saeed, Ashrul, Badruddin, and Biullah led by one Alam. All of them are residents of Jharkhand's Sahebgunj district.
Rachakonda Commissioner of Police Mahesh Bhagwat on Thursday said that Alam himself was in jail for a while last month the other six members of the gang came to Hyderabad and stole 432 cellphones worth Rs 70 lakh from Bajaj Electronics at ECIL Cross Road. Alam, who grew up in Sahebgunj district in Jharkhand located on the Bangladesh border, formed the gang along with his younger brother Sattar Sheikh (alias Satta, Abdullah Sheikh, Motu), Mohammad Aseedul, Saeed, Ashrul, Badruddin, and Beulah. Sattar was also arrested in a case.
Jawaharnagar Inspector K. Chandrasekhar's team arrested Mohammad Aseedul Sheikh in West Bengal's Malda district on the 2nd of this month. Both the accused were produced in the local court and brought on a transit warrant. Special teams are hunting for absconding Saeed, Ashrul, Bhadruddin, and Beulah.
The Kushaiguda police registered the mobile heist case based on a complaint lodged by Mohd Habeeb, general manager of Bajaj Electronics, Hyderabad, on September 21. The CCTV footage revealed that three masked robbers entered the store on September 20 at about 11 pm by breaking the false ceiling on the first floor of the store. The robbers fled with mobiles of various brands at around 1 am on September 21.
