Gang, including 2 minor students, held for dacoity in Navi Mumbai

Sanpada police have busted a gang of dacoits including three students who were on a robbing spree in Navi Mumbai, targeting unsuspecting drivers. On Wednesday night, the gang committed three robberies in the span of a few hours.

The gang, including an auto rickshaw driver, one history-sheeter and three students – two of whom are minors – travelled in an auto rickshaw to target drivers on isolated roads after midnight.

On Wednesday, the complainant Nandkumar Date, 25, a fish seller, was heading to Sassoon docks with his friend Ajinkya Padwal in his car. At around 2 am, Date stopped near Sanpada Bridge when the gang arrived in the auto. Three persons got out of the auto and slapped Date.

When Padwal tried to rescue his friend, four more persons in the same auto got out and beat them up. They robbed Date of his ₹19,000-worth phone and ₹13,000 cash. Padwal snatched their auto keys to prevent them from escaping but had to return them when the men started pelting him with stones.

On the same night, the gang attacked a truck driver in Nerul with a knife and robbed his phone. The driver sustained injury on his arm. They robbed a phone from another driver, who has not stepped forward to complain yet.

“We have arrested the gang. We also recovered the auto used in the crime along with phones that the men robbed that night,” said Vikas Ramagude, senior inspector.

All the accused are between 16 and 21 years. Based on the partial number plate of their auto, the police traced the men to Nerul and arrested them.