Pune police have arrested three alleged members of a gang accused of stealing jewellery and mobile phones from devotees during Ganesh festival events and an immersion procession, following a 4,600-kilometre pursuit that ended in Haryana’s Palwal area.
The arrests were made by a team from the Vishrambaug police station with assistance from the Gujarat and Haryana police. The accused were identified as Ajay Samsher Vinodkumar Rupsingh Koli, 20, Aman Samsher Anilkumar Narayansingh Koli, 24, and Deepak Samsher Rajubhai Sapsingh, 21. All three are from Palwal in Haryana, according to the report.
Police seized jewellery valued at Rs 13 lakh and a car used by the accused. The total value of the recovered property was estimated at Rs 23 lakh. The investigation has so far led to the detection of nine cases, said Krushikesh Rawale, deputy commissioner of police for Zone 1, as quoted by Lokmat.
The thefts were reported during the Ganesh festival and the immersion procession, when large crowds gathered in Pune. The Vishrambaug police team began investigating the incidents and received information that the alleged suspects had fled to Haryana. The police then travelled across states before locating and arresting the three men in Palwal.
The case also involved coordination with police in Gujarat. One of the accused was reportedly already in custody in a case registered at the Aravalli police station in Gujarat. With the assistance of Aravalli police, Pune investigators took him into custody for questioning. The questioning allegedly provided information about the thefts committed during the Ganesh festival, after which the search for the other suspects continued in Haryana.
According to the police account, the accused had travelled to Pune by car. The vehicle and jewellery were recovered during the investigation. The operation was conducted under Rawale’s supervision by senior police inspector Navnath Jagtap, inspector Umesh Karke, sub-inspector Satyawan Gend and other personnel from the Vishrambaug police station.
The arrests highlight the operational challenge of investigating crimes committed during large public gatherings when suspects can move quickly across state borders. In this case, the investigation involved coordination between police units in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana, as well as travel through multiple states.
The Vishrambaug police said that their teams had detected 62 cases over the previous two months across Gujarat, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Karnataka and different districts of Maharashtra. Property worth Rs 1.23 crore had been recovered in those cases, according to the report.
Further investigation into the nine cases linked to the arrested suspects is under way. Police are expected to verify the recovered property and establish the role of the accused in each case through the ongoing legal process.
