Five members of inter-state gang held for theft at Prayagraj hotel
PRAYAGRAJ : Joint teams of Civil Lines police and Special Operation Group (SOG) arrested five members of inter-state Jackie Gang involved in sensational theft of cash and jewellery during an engagement function of the nephew of high court Judge at Hotel Kanha Shyam in Civil Lines area on May 12.
The gang had committed similar crimes in other states and was presently living in Naini area of the district. Some members of the gang are still at large, police said.
To note, Chandra Prakash Kesarwani of Ashok Nagar area is brother of a high court judge. Engagement ceremony of his son was to take place at Hotel Kanha Shyam in Civil Lines on May 12. However, on the fateful day the family found the bag containing cash, jewellery and valuables that was to be given to the bride missing. An FIR was lodged in this connection by Kesarwani who claimed that the bag contained a diamond necklace, cash worth Rs 1 lakh and an iphone. Police scanned CCTV footages and spotted two unidentified persons fleeing with the bag. SSP Ajay Kumar said after investigations police teams under SHO Civil Lines Virendra Singh and SOG in-charge Vaibhav Singh arrested five members of Jackie Gang near Polo Ground.
They were identified as kingpin of the gang Jackie Kumar Sansi, Kunal Kumar Sansi, Kohinoor Sansi, Santosh Kumar Sansi of Kadia village of Rajgarh district of Madhya Pradesh and Ramu Patel of Chak Raghunath locality of Naini. A necklace resembling diamond set, a ring, a pendant set, silver ornaments, iPhone, cash Rs 69000, two firearms, an alto car, black coat, seven mobile phones and Aadhaar cards were recovered from them. Three members of the gang identified as Beena Bai, Sangeeta Bai, Rajendra Kumar and another person Pankaj aka Bhupendra Singh, who was sheltering the gang at his house in Naini, were still at large.
Questioning from the gang members revealed that the kingpin of the gang 25-year-old Jackie was trained by his grandmother Beena Bai and was involved in thefts since the age of 14. Jackie added new members in his gang, including 19-year-old Kunal who has an ‘innocent looks’. The gang then committed thefts and other crimes at Bharatpur in Rajasthan, Bhopal, Rajagarh, Ujjain, Dewas in Madhya Pradesh and Agra, Mathura, Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. The gang arrived at Prayagraj in June 2021 and was sheltered by Pankaj Singh and Ramu Patel in return of commission on thefts and house rent. “Jackie and Kunal used to roam around and keep an eye on hotels, marriage halls etc. After initial enquiry about the function, the duo used to dress up nicely and enter the function. They mingled with the guests and kept a watch on important persons of the family who were carrying bags etc. Then Kunal would talk to the target on some pretext and put his coat on the bag. He then picked up the coat along with the bag and escaped from the venue. They used the same modus operandi at Kanha Shyam Hotel and fled with the bag,” the SSP said.
Additional chief secretary declared a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh for the police team involved in the operation, IG Range announced cash reward of Rs 50000 while SSP also declared a reward of Rs 25000 for the police team.
Meanwhile, SSP suspended five policemen after it was found that the gang members had taken shelter in Naini area but remained out of radar of local cops. The SSP said SHO of Naini police station Kushalpal Singh, sub inspectors Ashish Yadav, Yash Karan Yadav, beat constables Ajeet Prajapati and Mishrilal have been suspended for negligence. The gang members were living in the house of Pankaj Singh, who runs a betting racket but cops had no information about them. A departmental action has also been initiated against them.