Arrest of 26 Iranians has solved 55 attention-diversion cases, helped recover booty worth Rs65 lakh and exposed the methods they employed to trick Bangalore women.
The arrest of 26 Iranians has solved 55 attention-diversion cases, helped recover booty worth Rs65 lakh in toto and exposed the exceptional methods they employed to trick Bangalore women — to live lavish lives in Bidar.
According to the police, well-dressed members of these notorious gangs of Iranians used to roam around Bangalore on two-wheelers on the lookout for potential victims: usually middle-aged women on their own. Posing as CBI or CID sleuths, they used to approach women with a cooked-up story — like claiming to solve a case of robbery or murder in their locality.
For example, they would warn the victims to remove their jewellery for safety reasons and then act as if trying to secure their valuables. Instead of dropping the jewellery in the women’s bags, they would drop a stone and pocket the jewels, before fleeing. The victims would realise that they had been conned only after a while.
Lavish lifestyle: Some of them used to fly down to Bangalore and then catch another flight after committing the crimes, said BR Ravikanthe Gowda, deputy commissioner of police (North east), who was part of the police teams that nabbed the culprits.
During their raids, the police found the Iranian gangsters leading lavish lifestyles in air-conditioned houses — with Italian-styled kitchens. “One of the accused, Taki Ali alias Taki, had a house that resembled a star hotel,” Gowda said.
How they were nabbed: After collecting information about them, the police finally decided to conduct mass raids in Bidar. City police commissioner BG Jyothi Prakash Mirji formed special teams with 200 police personnel—led by DCP (north-east) BR Ravikanthe Gowda, DCP (west) SN Sidramappa and ACP (international airport sub-division) PS Gachchinakatti.
The teams raided 120 houses of Iranian families at Hussaini Colony, Irani Galli in Bidar on February 4.
The Bangalore police nabbed 35 people with the help of local police and brought them to the city.
After inquiry, nine of them were released, the police said.
How they were identified: Mirji said the police used one of the victims to identify the accused. Besides, the arrested matched the portraits of the culprits, he added.
Some of the families of the accused approached the Human Rights Commission and complained that the police harassed their family members during the raids. They also alleged that the policemen molested the women.
Mirji denied the allegations. He said the Iranian gang members pelted stones on the police. “But the police braved the stone-pelting and arrested them,” Mirji said. “Their allegations are false. We have videographed the entire raid. We had women cops too with us. There is no question of violation of human rights.”
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