Mumbai Crime: Gang who stole from girl students' backpacks arrested

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Two members of a gang, including the kingpin, who used to target female students of Mithibhai College and steal their wallets, cash or mobile phones from their backpacks, have been arrested by the Juhu police. A student of pharmacy from Mithibhai College had registered an FIR at Juhu police station after she noticed that her handbag that contained Rs 3,000 in cash, an ATM card and pen drive was missing from her backpack.

"We scrutinised CCTV cameras installed at the crime spot and saw a group of four thieves, including a minor, following the victim. Three of them covered the kingpin, who discreetly unzipped the victim's backpack, lifted the handbag from inside and escaped with the others from the spot," said an officer privy to the investigation.

The CCTV footage was shown to a mobile thief in the custody of the Juhu police. "The thief identified the gang members and gave us their addresses. We managed to arrest two of them and recovered the stolen property within three hours of the offence," the officer said.

The accused, residents of Indira Nagar, Juhu, have been identified as Tushar Khamkar, 24, and Sachin Raut, 19. The hunt for their accomplices is underway. "The gang would follow the students, specially those wearing leggings or tight-fitting clothes, as these were likely to keep their valuables inside their backpacks," said another officer from Juhu police station. The cops said the gang has committed several offences in the past but have been arrested for the first time as most of their offences went unregistered.

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