Tiruchirapalli-based “thak thak gang” thieves were arrested on Wednesday, by a team of Connaught Place police station. Members of the gang have been identified as Ranganathan (44), Natraja (39), are residents of Tiruchirapalli district, Tamil Nadu while Abdul Hasan (25) is from Karnataka. Police claimed to have recovered Rs 1,75,000 in cash, three stolen bags containing important documents and a stolen laptop.
“The gang members were caught in action when the patrolling team, consisting of Sub Inspector Amit, Assistant Sub Inspector Premjeet, Head constable Joginder with Constables Bijender and Dilip heard people shouting and a man running after them. He was later identified as one Vipin Kumar who had fallen prey to thak thak thieves”, said DCP New Delhi District Madhur Verma.
A special police team was deployed to rein in this gang after many incidents were reported to the staff of Connaught Place police station, the DCP said.
The gang members were put to sustained interrogation and they disclosed that they belonged to Tiruchirapalli and they targeted parked vehicles, especially in posh areas, busy markets, gold markets and such, where high transactions are made and people carried large amounts of money and other valuable items. They would intentionally drop Rs 10 to 20 notes to distract the driver and then commit the crimes.
Police probe has revealed that the gang was involved in bag lifting in the Delhi and its peripheral areas for quite some time. During interrogation the members disclosed that they were arrested several times in Delhi for thievery in the past, police said in the official release.
DCP New Delhi District also stated that the members of the gang told the police, four gangs consisting of 40 persons in total, belonging to Tiruchirapalli, are currently present in Delhi committing such crimes.