Last year it was Kanpur, UP-based gang, this year it is Surat, Gujarat-based gang which was arrested by the Mumbai Police for stealing mobile phones and wallets taking advantage of crowd at Mumbai's most famous Ganpati mandal Lalbaugcha Raja. The cops on Friday arrested four people of the nine-member gang who had set their eyes on Raja's immersion procession.

WOMAN MEMBER ARRESTED



The cops said that one of the accused arrested was a woman and hunt is on for the other gang members.

According to the Mumbai Police, 118 mobile phones were reportedly stolen at Lalbaug this year. The cops expect that number of FIRs may increase in following days as people tend report few days late too. Every year, over lakhs of people across the country and even foreigners visit Lalbaugcha Raja. For both Charan Sparsh and Mukh Darshan the queue takes several hours. A senior police officer said, "The gang from Surat had come specially for Ganpati festival and targeted people at Lalbaug. The gang stayed in the nearby lodge in the area. One of the gang members arrested is a woman."

GANG CAME FROM SURAT TO MUMBAI



On the day of Visarjan, Lalbaugcha Raja is followed by people till Girgaum chowpaty where idol immersion takes place. The procession takes almost 24 hours due to huge crowd. Here, the accused stay with the idol and move along with the crowd stealing maximum number of mobile phones and wallets. In Lalbaug itself the Kalachowky Police Station officials arrested one accused red handed, later during investigations three more were arrested. The accused told cops that they had specially come to Mumbai to steal during Ganpati festival and they hail from Surat in Gujarat.

The cops are currently recovering valuables from the accused.

Last year, the Mumbai Police had arrested 12 people who belonged to Kanpur. The cops had recovered over 80 mobile phones and several wallets and ornaments. Interestingly, the gang had first gone to Nashik for Kumbh Mela and later came to Mumbai for Ganpati festival.

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