Chennai: The Ramjinagar gang members who are notorious for theft by diverting attention are found to be strong believers. They pray at a temple near their village and fix a good time (muhurtham) to leave their village to go on their looting sprees, said a Rachakonda police official.
Four gang members were arrested on Wednesday for a theft at Vanasthalipuram.
Ramjinagar has around 500 families and 18 gangs, each consisting of 15 to 20 members, whose only source of income is theft. The gangs operate in different states.
Police officials who are part of the probe said that on May 5, the gang performed day-long prayers at a temple located in the city. After fixing a ‘muhurtham’, they left for the city in a private bus from Chennai and committed the offence on the day they arrived.
The gang also killed a villager on suspicion that he had become a police informant. A case was also registered against them in 2012 under IPC Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence (at Ramjinagar).In their initial visit to Ramjinagar, state police could not get any sustainable leads about the gang due to lack of knowledge of Tamil. A city resident and son of a former CRPF official volunteered to translate.
“Kiran Kumar (name changed), stayed with us for almost 20 days and travelled with us and helped us translate, as the people in that region only spoke Tamil,” said a police official.
