Ahmedabad crime time: All in one day

Police had their hands full on Saturday. Vastrapur alone witnessed incidents of recovery of stolen silver and arrest of bag-lifters. Pirated CDs were seized in the third incident, while the angry outburst of residents of Khokhra at India’s loss in cricket forced the cops to detain them

City’s stolen silver found in Rajasthan

Vastrapur police recently recovered 4.1kg of stolen silver in city which had been sold to jewellers in Rajasthan. After stealing ornaments from different houses in the city, a Rajasthan-based thief sold his share of booty to jewelers in that state. His arrest revealed the location of the booty. Police went to Rajasthan and recovered 4.1 kg of silver from two jewellers.

A few weeks ago, Vastrapur police had caught notorious thief Dhanji Shakar Mina, 40, a resident of Amarpur of Udaipur district of Rajasthan. He confessed to several thefts in areas like Bopal, Ellisbridge and Vastrapur with the help of his two accomplices.

After dividing the booty among them, Mina received 4.1 kg of silver and 5 tolas of gold, which he sold to some jewelers of Dungarpur, Udaipur and Ganeshpura of Rajasthan.

After his confession, officials of Vastrapur police went to Rajasthan and inquired about sale of stolen ornaments. The jewellers admitted to having purchased ornaments from Mina. They told police that Mina came with one of their loyal customers to sell ornaments, so no one doubted him. To convince jewellers, he used various excuses. Mina told one jeweler that he needed money for treatment of his ailing father while he told another that he needed money to send his son to Dubai on work permit. This way he successfully sold 4.1 kg of silver ornaments to jewelers. However, after learning about the reality, they handed over the stock to Vastrapur police officials.

Vastrapur police are now searching for Mina's accomplices.

Cops nab 2 thieves after 4-km chase

Two head constables of Vastrapur police caught two notorious bag lifters after chasing them for more than 4 km on their motorbike.

On Thursday evening, Vastrapur police received a complaint from Amal Shaswipalli, a resident of Ganeshdham bungalow in Sola who claimed that someone broke the window glass of his parked Hyundai car near Himalaya Mall and fled with a black bag which contained credit cards, PAN card, 300 Singapore dollars, a Samsung mobile phone and Rs 1500 cash.

After receiving the complaint, police officials were tipped off that the young duo involved in the theft would be at Vastrapur Lake on Thursday night. Based on the tip-off, head constable Rakesh Sinh and Shafiulla Khan were deployed to keep a watch near Alpha-One Mall.

After spotting an auto near the mall, the cops asked the driver of the vehicle to stop, which alerted the latter for he immediately fled to a street leading to GMDC ground, with his accomplice seated in the back.

The head constables chased them on their bike, and the chase lasted more than 4 km. After going round Vastrapur Lake and GMDC ground, the auto hit a tree and halted near Haveli at Vastrapur Lake. The thieves made an attempt to flee on foot, but they were nabbed by the constables.

The auto driver was identified as Bunty Indrekar, 20, and the other person as Prafull Chhara, 23. Both are residents of Kubernagar. Police recovered Rs 25,000 cash, 2 mobile phones and 4 purses from the duo. Investigations revealed that both are notorious thieves. Bunty was booked under PASA and was released from jail just a month back, while Prafull has been caught by the crime branch earlier. Both hatched a plan to commit the thefts, and bought an auto for the purpose.

Fans mourn Team India’s loss

Five cricket fans were detained by Khokhra police on Saturday when they were protesting against Team India's 0-4 whitewash in Australia. However, these cricket fans claimed that they were detained on the basis of wrong information given to police.
Hugely disappointed by the poor performance of Team India in the Test series against Australia, local leaders and over 50 cricket fans from Khokhra organised a 'Shok Sabha' in the office of Rajput Community in Khokhra on Saturday. As part of their protest, the fans made an effigy and stuck posters of senior cricketers on it, to make it look like a symbolic dead body of Indian cricket team. The protestors also shouted slogans, asking all senior players to leave the team immediately.

Meanwhile, someone informed the Khokhra police about the protest, saying that the protestors had prepared an effigy of chief minister Narendra Modi and were about to burn it.

After receiving the call, all 'D' staff officials rushed to the spot. The police officials asked the cricket fans to wind up the programme and hand over the effigy of the CM to them.

The cricket fans argued that someone had misinformed the police as the effigy was of the cricket team, not of the CM. But, taking no chances, the police seized the effigy and asked five of the protestors to come to the police station. "We requested them to apply their mind, as there was posters of cricketers all over the effigy, but they didn't listen to us," said a cricket fan. According to Khokhra police, the programme had to be interrupted as the fans had not taken the permission from police.

Girl goes missing from Anandnagar

An 11-year-old girl has gone missing from her house in Anandnagar. The girl's father Suresh Patel told the police that her daughter went missing after attending a marriage function at their neighbour's house.

According to Patel, a resident of Mira Mangal flats in Satellite, her daughter Vishwa went to attend the marriage of their neighbour at 1:30 pm on Friday, but had not returned home after that.

Vishwa studies in Class 6 at Vidyanagar School. Patel, who works in a courier company in Sarkhej, said that Vishwa was close to her classmate and friend Himani, daughter of infamous conman Ashok Jadeja. Patel, in his complaint, claimed that Vishwa must have gone somewhere with Himani.

Based on Patel's application, Anandnagar police tried to locate Himani, who used to live with her mother in Anandnagar after the arrest of Ashok Jadeja. When the police went to her house, they learnt that Himani went to their old house in Naroda.

Himani finally came to Anandnagar on Saturday evening, when the police asked her about Vishwa. Himani told police that she had not met Vishwa since Friday and did not know about her whereabouts.

Police have now shifted the focus on Vishwa's other friends, who might provide some clue about her.

6 pirated CD vendors held

Striking on vendors selling pirated as well as porn CDs on open roads, CID (Crime) seized more than 5,000 such CDs in Ghatlodia.

On Saturday, officials of CID (Crime) raided some handcarts selling pirated CDs in Ghatlodia area, and seized 5140 CDs worth Rs5.14 lakh. The team also arrested six persons involved in selling such CDs in their shops and handcarts.

Chetan Goswami, police inspector with CID (Crime), received a tip-off regarding the sale of such CDs on the roads of Ghatlodia and Sola area. Based on the tip-off, Goswami raided oin Saturday, and arrested six vendors -Kantilal Soni, Shailesh Raval, Rajesh Vanzari, Ramesh Shah, Dashrath Thakor and Tarang Shah. Officials have recovered pirated CDs worth Rs 5.14 lakh from them.