A notorious gang of robbers, which includes a national-level boxer, has been arrested by the Navi Mumbai police for its involvement in several theft and house break-ins. The police has recovered one kg of stolen gold worth `52 lakh from them.
The trio was arrested by the crime branch officials, who learnt of their involvement in many cases at Navi Mumbai. They were then handed over to the Navi Mumbai police.
Panchakshari Sangayya Swami (25), Rehan Ul-Haq (23) and Mayank Kumar Sagar (44) were arrested by Unit 1 of the Navi Mumbai crime branch and remanded to police custody for one week. “During sustained interrogation, the accused revealed that they were involved in several theft cases in Thane and Navi Mumbai. The crime branch got in touch with us and we took their custody,” said Shrikant Pathak, deputy commissioner of police (crime).
The trio was involved in two major theft and break-in cases at Sector 29 of Vashi in 2012.
While Swami is from Kolhapur, Rehan and Sagar are from Mira Road and Mumbra respectively. Incidentally, Swami is a former boxer, who later fell from grace due to his addiction to alcohol. “We have learnt that he even participated at national-level events, but got into drinking and consequently began stealing,” added Mr Pathak.
The police is now investigating if the gang has been involved in recent cases of theft and break-ins at Nerul, Kharghar and Belapur. The police has also recovered a camera unit worth `70 lakh and an home theatre system worth `72 lakh that Swami rented out to people.