By IANS
Nawanshahr (Punjab) : The Punjab police Wednesday claimed it had nabbed ten members of a gang of migrants from Nawanshahr district, 85 km from Chandigarh, who were involved in a spate of dacoities at religious shrines in the area in recent months.
Zonal Inspector General of Police Sanjiv Kalra told reporters that the Fakir Qalandar gang was captured from an abandoned building in Mahalon village while they were planning to commit a dacoity in another village.
Kalra said that the gang had been active in the area in recent months – mostly targeting religious places. On interrogation, the gang members had admitted to similar activities in adjoining districts of Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Ludhiana.
The gang used to rob temples, Gurudwaras (Sikh shrines) and campuses of deras (sects).
Kalra said that the gang members were illiterate and did not even recall the names of towns and villages where they had committed crimes. During the spate of dacoities committed by them, one person had been killed and several of their victims injured. They took away cash and valuables worth thousands.
He said that the modus operandi of the gang was to send women and children from their families to religious places in towns and villages in the garb of begging and inform the male members about the location and activities there. The gang would later strike at that place by beating people with sticks and then looting cash and valuables.
The IG said that several cases of crime were likely to be solved with the arrest of the gang members.