4 held as gang stealing computer parts busted

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police officials said on Thursday they have busted a gang of thieves that allegedly stole laptops and computer parts from the IT market at Nehru Place and later sold the stolen items at the same market.

Four men, including a computer shop owner and a scrap dealer who bought the stolen goods, were arrested. A total of 16 stolen laptops, 300 RAMS, 23 hard disks, 18 computer fans, among other parts worth several lakh Rupees were recovered from them. Police officials said that all the seized items had been stolen from different shops at the Nehru Place computer market, Asia’s biggest IT hub. The arrests led to the solving of three cases, said the police.

The arrested men were identified as shopkeeper Neeraj Tyagi, scrap dealer Rashid, Ramesh Kumar Mishra, and Shiv Kumar alias Shiva. “Mishra and Shiva were the thieves, while Tyagi and Rashid were the ones who bought the stolen computer items. The two thieves had been earlier arrested in 2001 for similar offences,” said Chinmoy Biswal, dep- uty commissioner of police (southeast).

DCP Biswal added that on April 9, a burglary was committed at a computer shop in the market. The owner of the shop told the police that 300 RAMS, 25 fans, and 10 computer processors were missing. A case was registered and an investigation was taken up.

The next morning, two patrolling staff noticed Mishra “loitering around” in the market in the early morning hours. When questioned, he failed to give the policemen a satisfactory response about why he was there.

“Mishra was grilled, during which he confessed to his involvement in the April 9 burglary. He told us about Shiva’s involvement as well. Mishra’s interrogation also led us to Rashid, who had purchased the stolen items. Tyagi was also arrested,” said Biswal.

Police officials said that Mishra and Shiva were very familiar with the Nehru Place IT market and knew where each and every office, shop, and godown were located.

They allegedly targeted shops which had weak security and were not covered under CCTV cameras.