Kumar Rajiv Nayan
Ara : Bhojpur police, on a tip off, arrested eight members of an inter-state gang of vehicle lifters and also seized a countrymade pistol, two live cartridges, red pepper powder, a motorcycles and five mobile phones from their possession. Later, they were forwarded to jail.
The arrested criminals were identified as Pintu Singh, son of Vishwapratap Singh of village Nathmalpur under Barhara police station, Raju Ali, son of Asagara Ali of village Ekauna under Barhara police station, Markandey Singh, son of Jagat Narayan Singh, of Jokhari under Krishnagarha police station, Shambhu Mishra, son of Shivji Mishra of Badki Bharauli under Shahpur police station, Gorakh Mahto alias Gore Mahto, son of Kamta Mahto of Ibrahim Nagar under Town police station, Ara, Kanhaiya Singh, son of Jagannath Singh of Hamidpur under Baikunthpur police station in Gopalganj, Himanshu Verma, son of Mahendra Pratap Verma of Gahmar in Gazipur district, Uttar Pradesh, and Rahul Singh, son of Awadhesh Singh of Gahmar in Gazipur district, UP.
Bhojpur SP Kshatranil Singh on July 12, 2017, said that he got information that some miscreants had hired a Scorpio near Ramana Maidan in the name of going to Gupta Dham on July 10, 2017, and were going to Saraiya via Gangi. He immediately formed a police team led by SDPO Sanjay Kumar and the police team intercepted the vehicle near Saraiya and arrested five notorious criminals involved in vehicle lifting and seized a country made pistol, red pepper powder, two live cartridges and five mobile phones from their possessions.
During interrogation the miscreants revealed they had hired the vehicle on the direction of an inmate of Ara jail, Nityanand Singh, with a view to stealing it. They said that they planned to dump the driver at a secluded place on way to Gupta Dham and took the vehicle to Chhapra. They also confessed that they had committed such crimes earlier too and sold the stolen vehicles to Sushil Singh of Gopalganj and Himanshu Verma of Gahmar. They also confessed that they had stolen a tractor from village Chatara under Barhara police station on June 28, 2017, and sold it to Sushil Singh through his driver Kanhaiya Singh, the SP said.
The SP said that police laid a trap and called Himanshu Verma and Rahul Singh saying that the vehicles were ready. Both came to Ara on July 12 and police arrested them near Ara railway station along with a motorcycle. He said Kanhaiya Singh was arrested from Gopalganj. The SP stated that Markandey Singh and Pintu Singh were earlier arrested for vehicle lifting but were granted bail on June 28, 2017.