Kaithal cops bust gang involved in tower equipment theft, 4 arrested

With the arrest of four persons, the anti-vehicle theft unit of the Kaithal police busted a gang allegedly involved in stealing remote radio unit (RRU) equipment from mobile towers across Haryana. It has recovered stolen property worth around Rs 35 lakh from their possession.

The police impounded a car, tools used in the thefts, Rs 70,000 in cash, and 11 stolen RRU devices. The arrests have helped the police to solve 18 cases of equipment theft from mobile towers in various districts of Haryana, including Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar.

Interacting with media persons, DSP Sushil Prakash said the investigation began after a complaint was filed by Ranbir Singh, a superviser at RS Security, which provided security for mobile towers. According to the complaint, an RRU device was stolen from a tower in Faral village on March 13. Based on the report, a case was registered at the Pundri police station. The Superintendent of Police (SP), Rajesh Kalia, assigned the case to the anti-vehicle theft unit, which cracked it while working on a tip off.

A police team led by Inspector Ranjit and SI Pradeep, along with ASI Jasmer Singh, SI Shubhkaran, HC Sunil, HC Isham Singh, and HC Anil, tracked down and arrested the accused — Vinodi, Pawan and Kuldeep—from Dusaain village. Another accused, Vinod alias Kuku, was arrested from Gohida village in Karnal.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that they had been working on mobile towers for five years but had faced irregular employment and salary delays over the past two years. Knowing the high resale value of RRUs, which range from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh per unit, they began targeting mobile towers at night.

The gang confessed to committing six thefts in Kaithal, nine in Karnal, two in Kurukshetra and one in Yamunanagar. They would steal the RRUs and hand them over to their associate Sandeep from Indri, Karnal, who would then sell them in the black market, the DSP said. The accused used a systematic approach as they conducted survey during the day to identify potential targets. At night, one member would climb the tower and act as a lookout. Two members would dismantle and remove the equipment. The others remained on the ground to keep a watch and alert the group of any people or vehicles approaching. When alerted, they would quickly hide the stolen equipment and vehicle to avoid detection.

The police are conducting further interrogations to identify additional accomplices and recover more stolen property. DSP Prakash assured that strict action would be taken against those involved in such organised crimes.