Chacha Chaudhury cracks a real case

New Delhi:ChachaChaudhary, the popular crime-solving comic character created by Pran Sharma, helped police round up a gang of crooks — this time for real. Police were able to arrest five men, including a TV actor, involved in more than 65 cases of criminal act when a ChachaChaudhary sticker on the number plate helped identify one of the various bikes used by the men as getaway vehicles.
The white Hero Honda Karizma motorcycle with the tell-tale sticker was caught by a CCTV camera in northwest Delhi’s Model Town and showed two youths astride it snatching a gold chain from businessman Rakesh on July 4 as he was approaching his house after parking his car. Careful scrutiny of the footage yielded two clues for the investigators. One was the sticker of the moustachioed comic character on the rear number plate and the other was a white helmet with tri-coloured stripes on its back that was worn by the pillion rider.
“Under the supervision of ACP Anil Mittal, pickets were raised to scan all two-wheelers in the area,” said Vijay Singh, DCP (Northwest), on Saturday, disclosing how the criminals had been tracked down.
The vigil paid off on Wednesday, when head constable Jitendra and constable Manoj spotted a motorcycle with an identical sticker at a traffic signal. When the two policemen signalled the bikers to stop, they slowed down, but tried to speed away when the cops approached them. “They were, however, overpowered and taken into custody,” said Singh.
The bike rider was identified as Pintoo Sharma, 30, who had once acted in a TV serial. The pillion rider turned out to be Sonu Singh alias Aman. According to the police, Sonu is involved in 28 previous cases of snatching and robbery and is a wanted criminal in the Subzi Mandi area. Sharma also has a past criminal record.
On questioning the duo, police learnt that the bike belonged to Sandeep, 30, who often used to hire it out to the trio of Sonu, Sharma and Deepak Seth, 29, for use during their robbing sprees. The information they revealed about their criminal activities led to the arrest of a fifth associate, 32-year-old Sambha Ji.
“Shamba Ji used to buy the jewellery items that the trio stole,” said DCP Singh. The police officer added that three other two-wheelers and some jewellery pieces were recovered from the possession of the arrested quartet.