Cops bust interstate theft gang, crack multiple burglary cases | Lucknow News

Lucknow: A string of unsolved burglaries across Lucknow’s southern zone was finally cracked after the PGI police and the Southern Zone Surveillance Cell arrested a four-member interstate theft gang that targeted locked houses for weeks. The breakthrough came after investigators painstakingly scanned more than 200 CCTV camera feeds, used technical surveillance tools, and deployed manual informers across multiple residential pockets.The arrested accused have been identified as Suraj Gautam alias Saddam (26), a history-sheeter with over 10 previous cases; Shivam Vishwakarma alias Kallu (19), a mechanic; Mudit Saha alias Ayush alias Bengali (24), also a mechanic; and Akash Verma (24), a momo-seller. All four hail from different parts of Lucknow but frequently moved around together at night to avoid suspicion.According to ADCP South Vasanth Rallapalli, the men maintained day jobs but secretly used that time to conduct reconnaissance in residential areas. One gang member would survey a neighbourhood during the day, another would do it the next day—studying which houses were locked, which lanes had blind spots, and which streets lacked active surveillance.“Once convinced a house was unoccupied, the group would return past midnight, break open the locks, and steal whatever valuables they could carry,” Rallapalli said. The gang divided the booty equally before fleeing to Haryana, where they sold jewellery, electronics, safes, and household items to evade local police tracking.DCP South Nipun Agarwal said four FIRs filed between Nov 8 and 18 from Vrindavan Yojna, Vrindavan Colony, and Eldeco-II provided the investigation trail. Police teams then began mapping suspicious movements from over 200 CCTV cameras installed across lanes, houses, shops, apartments, and roadside points.Investigators created a movement heat-map, narrowing down repeated appearances of a specific motorcycle and an electric scooter in burglary-hit areas. “Once we identified the routes and time patterns, we began manual surveillance in the PGI area,” the DCP said.The gang was finally intercepted behind Kasa Green Apartments after technical intelligence placed their devices and movements in that zone. Police said the gang is linked to at least 25 theft incidents, many of which were reported over the past few months.Mukesh Bahadur Singh, whose home safe was stolen and later recovered, lauded the swift action.