Chaddi Banyan gang strikes again

Nagpur: The Sonkusre family at Bhilgaon, on the outskirts of the city, became the latest target of dreaded ‘Chaddi Banyan’ gang of dacoits on Sunday. The gang generally strikes at isolated residential localities. This is the second incident of dacoity in the fringe localities of the city within 36 hours. The gang usually strikes at multiple locations within a couple of days in the city before moving away.The Sonkusres were stunned on seeing four masked people standing in their bedroom in the middle of the night armed with sharp weapons and rod. Though the dacoits started on an aggressive note, threatening the family at knifepoint, they quietened down after the Sonkusres surrendered. The dacoits, who later turned polite addressing complainant Rajesh’s wife as ‘sister’, did not assault anyone. A day ago, dacoits had assaulted the Tambi family of Ramkrishna Nagar on Gorewada Road when they had tried to resist.
On Sunday, they decamped with valuables worth around Rs2.10 lakh, including cash Rs15,000. The dacoits also used clothes of Sonkusre family to wrap their faces while leaving.
The dacoits had barged into the house by forcing open the kitchen door in the rear of the house, after breaking open the lock. They had locked the Sonkusres from outside before leaving premises. They also took Sonkusres’ mobile phone before leaving the house. Rajesh, who works as an engineer with state public works department (PWD), later got his phone back abandoned near a shrub nearby. The dacoits also left the clothes of the Sonkusre family, that they had used to cover their faces, in the vicinity.
Staffers from Yashodhara Nagar police station reached the place after neighbours alerted the control room when Sonkusres called out to them from inside the house. Senior officers like Addl CP Shrikant Tarwade, DCP, crime branch, Deepali Masirkar, and DCP zone-III Ranjan Sharma too inspected the spot. Police had also pressed into action services of sniffer canine that helped find the abandoned mobile phone of Rajesh. The dacoits are learnt to have used the fields and walked through shrubs rather than using pathways.