Lucknow, Jan 10 (IANS): Three members of the Pankhiya gang, which emitted chirp (sound of birds) to communicate with each other during their crimes, were arrested from Lucknow.
A joint team of Sarojini Nagar police and surveillance team (south) worked out a case after months and arrested three members and a jeweller .
"On Monday, they were arrested from under railway crossing on Kisan Path with the help of an informant's tip off," said the police, adding that Rs 25,400, along with jewellery worth lakhs was recovered from them.
The accused were identified as Amin, and Naz Mohammad, both 23-year-old and residents of Bareilly, Munish Kumar Tyagi, 48 of Shahjahanpur, and a jeweller identified as Dharmendra Gupta Kallu, 36 of Shahjahanpur to whom the accused use to sell the stolen items.
"Police suspect there are still 25-30 active members in the gang and we’re searching for them," said Shashank Singh, ADCP, South.
"The gang gets its name from the village Pankhia Khera, situated on the border of Bareilly and Shahjahanpur and belongs to the Pankhania caste.
The gang uses luxury, high-end vehicles in crimes and targets mostly well-off houses situated in villages, or stretches of highways of big cities," the ADCP said.
Explaining the modus operandi of the gang, the police official explained, "They would first do survey during the day and then at night they would come to the spot of incident in luxury vehicles but alight 10-15 km away from the spot of incident.
"After the incident, the driver reached the appointed place, and all the accused persons would escape in the car. They do not carry phones, but even if they do, they do not use it but use bird chirps," the ADCP said.
The police got a hint of the gang after a theft took place at the house of a former village pradhan Amit Kumar Singh in Amausi, following which multiple theft cases were reported at Sarojini Nagar and Gosainganj police station limits in Lucknow, said police, adding that the gang also confessed to have committed similar thefts in Bihar and Haryana.
"The members are habitual criminals as many as 15 cases are registered in different districts against Amin and Naaz, while multiple cases are registered in the name of Munis and Dharmendra," said a police spokesman.