Rachakonda Police Arrest Umbergaon Gang in ₹1.07 Crore College Theft
HYDERABAD: Rachakonda police have cracked the ₹1.07-crore theft reported on October 10 at Brilliant Engineering College under Abdullapurmet police station limits in Ranga Reddy district. Investigators tracked the suspects across several states and arrested members of a gang operating from Umbergaon in Gujarat.
Gang targeted colleges in several states, police say
According to police, the gang broke open the administrative block’s grill and door and stole cash kept in an almirah for students’ fees. The thieves also took away the CCTV digital video recorder before fleeing.
Officers said the theft was significant as the college is owned by Kalwakurthy MLA Kasireddy Narayan Reddy. The case was treated as a priority, and four special teams ,comprising civil police, Central Crime Station personnel, the IT cell and the Special Operations Team were formed. Teams searched in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and examined over 1,000 CCTV camera feeds.
BBA, LLB students among accused arrested
Police identified those arrested as:
Raj Manohar Pawar, 22, a BBA student from Gujarat
Ritik Mohit, 24, a BA-LLB student from Madhya Pradesh
Vilas Chauhan, 22, from Maharashtra
A minor boy, 16
Two others Dinesh Mohit, 27, and Arun Mohit, 18 are absconding. Police said all six are related and live in Umbergaon. They allegedly travel to distant states, target colleges in semi-urban areas and execute thefts using techniques copied from crime-investigation films.
Google searches, gloves, multiple vehicles used to evade detection
Police said the gang met in Umbergaon in the second week of October and searched Google for potential colleges in Hyderabad. They travelled from Vapi to Mumbai, then to Aurangabad, and reached Hyderabad by sleeper bus on October 8. After getting down in Miyapur, they went to Lingampally railway station to freshen up and later visited Nehru Zoological Park, where they purchased gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints.
Their first target, a college in Attapur, was dropped due to heavy security. They then chose Brilliant Engineering College in Batasingaram. The campus houses three institutions, and police said the gang believed the limited security at night would work to their advantage.
At about 12.30 am, they entered the premises, broke open the locks and stole only the ₹500, ₹200 and ₹100 bundles. They left behind the bundles of ₹10 and ₹20 notes, which they could not carry.
Share decided in advance; DVR taken to mislead probe
According to police, the stolen amount was divided almost equally. Dinesh allegedly took ₹17,85,000; Arun ₹17,83,000; Pawar ₹17,83,000; Ritik ₹17,83,000; and Chauhan ₹17,83,000. Police said Dinesh took an additional ₹2,000 for breaking the lock.
After the theft, the gang discarded low-value currency bundles on the floor, carried away the CCTV DVR and took multiple buses, autos and cabs to confuse investigators. They travelled from Amberpet to Nagarjunasagar, then to Guntur, Vijayawada and finally Mumbai by sleeper bus.
Rachakonda police tracked gang across states
Investigators recovered footage showing three men boarding a bus at Amberpet shortly after the theft. Using this lead, they checked CCTV networks across several states and circulated stills to police stations in Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.
Police finally located the gang’s base in Umbergaon and arrested Pawar, Ritik and the minor. A total of ₹37,05,000 was recovered.
Rachakonda DCP (LB Nagar) Anuradha said officers worked without breaks for several days to trace the accused. Vanasthalipuram ACP Kashireddy, Meerpet DI, Abdullapurmet police station officers and CCS and IT Cell inspectors were part of the investigation.
