7: In the Lair of Criminals

 Kartavya: Duty with Dedication

Chapter -7: In the Lair of Criminals

If any crime is committed within the boundary of a State, its investigation becomes limited to that state, and hence solving that case becomes a bit easier for the police. But if the crime is connected to another State, it becomes very difficult and challenging to investigate and nab the treacherous criminals.

A very famous party plot of Modasa city has witnessed many splendid occasions. In one such grand wedding ceremony, the hosts along with their guests were enjoying the occasion to the brim. After the feast, the guests left. Around 11 pm, the family members of the party-givers were engaged in photo shoot so as to make the event unforgettable. But none of them had the slightest idea that these blissful moments were not going to prevail longer.

During wedding occasions, it is a tradition to accept gifts in cash, and mostly this duty is assigned to the son-in-law of the family. He had finalized the amount of money received in the notebook and had securely put the cash along with the book in a bag, when someone urged him to join the family photo shoot. As people present there were all family members, he left the bag unattended on the counter table and joined the photo session. Finally, when it was all over, he returned to the counter for the bag, and found it gone.

It was a bolt from the blue for the son-in-law, as the bag contained jewelleries and cash totalling a worth of around ten lakhs. He frantically started searching for the bag, but it was nowhere to be found. Initially he thought that someone must have played a prank on him by hiding the bag, but the bag was missing for real. The joy of marriage function turned into a melancholy.

Not the slightest bit was found despite searching all over the place. Just because of a reckless blunder, a very big amount of money was stolen. Despite the presence of abundant family members at the moment someone took the bag and had slipped away from everyone’s sight. The nearby police station was informed of this incident immediately. It was for the first time that a case of robbery of over 10 lakhs was filed in that region. The police started investigating this challenging case of professional robbers from late night. They started with checking the CCTV footages of the party-plot along with the surrounding shops. Suspicious activities of some 10-12 years old children were observed in them. How and why would the children of such a young age commit a robbery of such a large sum of money? Those children were passing the bag to each other and moving forward. They quickly delivered the bag to the car which was stationed at a certain distance and in the blink of an eye the car disappeared.

The mystery of this theft was to be solved based on the CCTV footage. It was difficult to reach the crooks based solely on footage without any supporting evidence. But strong will makes the impossible possible. CCTV footages of the surrounding tolls were collected. A suspicious car was observed in them. The police successfully got their hands on the number of the car. The registration of the car was from Madhya Pradesh. A whole lot of details and the resume of the person on whose name the car was registered were gathered. Checking that resume revealed a long list of crimes.

That village in Madhya Pradesh is very notorious. Most of the people here are known for smuggling in different parts of the country. These people have created such a dangerous awe that even the local police have to think many times before entering that village. These people abduct 10-12 years old children from Rajasthan and prepare them for trafficking. Children around this age can very easily get access to any occasion anywhere. They are trained on how to pick up the valuables on sight without grabbing any attention. Nobody even suspects them. The mastermind behind the whole incident is standing 200-500 metres away from the crime scene and has fully geared to escape. The moment the valuables reach their hands, their car vanishes at full speed within a few moments. The children are appeased by giving some money.

The same notorious gang had carried out the theft of 10 lakhs in the Modasa party plot. The criminal record of the accused was in the hands of the police. Nabbing the crooks from that dangerous village in an unknown area of Madhya Pradesh was quite tricky than expected. The District Police chief Sanjay Kharat tried to talk to the Superintendent of Police of that area in Madhya Pradesh for help, but the local police cooperation did not provide the expected cooperation.

The team of Aravalli District Police left for Madhya Pradesh. There was no possibility of getting the cooperation of local police there. Just a fortnight before the occurrence of this incident, the local police were fatally attacked from this village. Both tact and force had to be employed. The police mixed with the locals of that village in plain clothes and collected important information. Based on this information, it was certain that the accused of the theft of Rs. 10 lakhs belonged to this village. Extorting money from him was as hard as chewing iron grams. The police officers cleverly arranged a meeting with the village sarpanch and persuaded him to return the stolen money. While conversing with the sarpanch, it was revealed that many people including the Sarpanch were involved in the trafficking. The sarpanch was convinced to return the money using all possible tactics. According to him, all the theft booty was spent.

The task of recovering the money was difficult but the Aravalli District Police was not ready to give up. The Aravalli Police went to another State and without the cooperation of the local police entered the stronghold of dangerous criminals and were successful in seizing approximately three lakhs of stolen money. Recovering 3 lakhs rupees from those criminals was a big victory. Police are still putting effort to recover the remaining amount of money. The local police of Madhya Pradesh were also stunned to see this feat of the Aravalli Police. PSI C.F. Rathod and his team played a crucial role in solving this case.

The police don’t even care about their own lives to protect people’s lives and property. This is the intoxication that lies on wearing ‘Khakhi’

Kartavya, a police dairy by Mr. Ishwar Prajapati in Gujarati

Issued on 27 March 2024, on 

https://ishvarprajapati.blogspot.com/2024/03/kartavya-duty-with-dedication-chapter-7.html

©️Translated into English by Pallavi Gupta🌷