3 ‘Ramzan robbers’ held

The Dongri police has busted a three-member gang of robbers who allegedly conducted their business only during the month of Ramzan. Sources inform that all the accused, who hail from Delhi, would come to the city only during Ramzan.

The arrested accused have been identified as Bahar Alam Sheikh (30), Hussain Sheikh (28) and Jahangir Sheikh (28). Bahar and Hussain are brothers and Jahangir is their friend who they roped in for their robberies, sources said. Jahangir is said to be physically challenged.

Explaining one of their methods of robbing the public, officials from the Dongri police station said the trio would distract people by using Jahangir’s physical disability. “They would visit mosques early in the morning and wait for the morning prayers to end and the devotees to step out. Once they were out, Jahangir would approach them and pretend to beg. Since it is the month of Ramzan, the devotees would not refuse him and while they were busy paying him, Hussain and Bahar would pickpocket their phones,” said an officer from the Dongri police station.

The officer said the trio followed many other methods to conduct robbery. “They would hang around in the vicinity of chawls and residential apartments and wait for Muslim families to get done with the sehri (morning meal during Ramzan). Once the sehri was done and the families had slept again, they would break into houses and rob cash, mobiles and jewellery lying around,” he added.

The trio would visit Mumbai only during Ramzan, the official said. “They would stay in hotels in the city for a month or so and then leave for their hometown,” he said. The arrested accused allegedly have many past cases against them at various police stations like MRA Marg, Dongri, Pydhonie.

“We received a tip on Sunday night that they were staying in a lodge in MRA Marg and we laid a trap and arrested all three. We are now trying to find how many other cases they have (against them),” he said. He added that Bahar has a previous record wherein he was arrested in 2009 by the MRA Marg police on a case of robbery but later released on bail.