Ex-armyman, wife caught in a Bunty-Bubli act

PATNA: In a story akin to Bollywood potboiler 'Bunty aur Babli', a retired army personnel and his wife involved in relieving passengers of their valuables in running trains in Bihar have been arrested and goods worth over Rs5 lakh recovered from their possession.

A police team headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police Satyanarayan Kumar raided Kayamnagar village under Koelwar police station in Bhojpur district and took a retired army personnel Ram Naresh Pandey and his wife Laxmi Devi into custody on Wednesday, Superintendent of Police (Railway) Amitabh Kumar said.

Ramnaresh, who recently retired from defence service, used to rob the passengers with the help of his wife Laxmi Devi and nephew Shashikant Pandey, he said, adding the trio used to travel in important trains during night and decamped with the luggage of the passengers.

Passengers did not suspect them as Pandey preferred to take his wife along, the SP (Railway) said.

The police recovered Rs90,000 in cash, 26 suitcases comprising costly garments, jewellery worth Rs2 lakh, 25 wrist-watches, one laptop, one video camera and two cellular phone sets.

Ramnaresh is reported to have a multi-storeyed building in the state capital.