india

Updated: Jun 22, 2019 03:12 IST

A member of an Iranian gang from Delhi, who had allegedly gone on the run on Thursday, was arrested Friday, after locals and the police managed to get hold of two of his associates, the police said.

The police said the gang, comprising six members, allegedly stole cash and electronic gadgets from shops in Manesar and Bilaspur. They had allegedly targeted at least 18 people and stolen Rs 8 lakh in the last two months.

The man was identified as 37-year-old Esmael Foroughinashi of Karaj in Iran. He had allegedly formed the gang three years ago when he read of Iranian gangs surfacing in India, the police said, adding that he had allegedly called his relatives to Delhi to join his gang, assuring them of good income.

On Thursday, three of the gang members, including Foroughinashi, had stolenRs 35,000 from a shopkeeper in Bilaspur after engaging him in a conversation, the police said.Foroughinashi was driving the getaway car when they met with an accident. Locals had thrashed them before the police team reached the spot. He managed to flee the spot, but fractured his right hand and was hospitalised for three hours on Thursday, the police said.

All three men were produced before the court on Friday and sent to judicial custody for 14 days. The police said with the arrest of the three, they had solved more than 18 such cases in the area.

Rajesh Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (Manesar), said the gang members had been living in a hotel in Karol Bagh in Delhi for the last five months. “The gang members are on a tourist visa. This is the fifth time they have visited India, and have duped more than 200 people so far. There are more gang members at large and we have formed teams who are conducting raids at suspected locations,” he said.

Kumar said they had recovered Rs 5,000, Maruti Baleno car, three mobile phones and $200 from their possession. “The gang has committed multiple crimes in Manesar and Bilaspur. They mainly targeted shopkeepers on the pretext of looking at Indian currency and duped them,” Kumar said.

Surinder Singh, an employee of a motorcycle showroom in Manesar said he was in the showroom on June 7, when three people, including a woman, came in and after spending half an hour there, asked them for a steering cover.

“After looking at the accessories, they chose a cover and asked us to pack it. I asked the woman to pay the bill at the counter and accompanied her. Meanwhile, the two men took a round of the showroom. The woman called them and asked them to pay Rs 300, but they handed over US dollars, which the cashier refused to accept and asked them to pay in Indian currency,” he said.

Singh said two of them engaged the cashier and asked him to show the currency, following which he took out a Rs 100 note. They asked him to show a higher amount and he took out notes with denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000.

“They started showing the cashier the currency they had, and using sleight of hand, took Rs 98,000 from the cash counter and fled the spot,” he said.

The police said by the time the victim realised he had been duped, they were nowhere to be found.