Inter-state train robber gang nabbed

HYDERABAD: A four-member inter-state gang which indulged in robbing train passengers, was arrested by the Secunderabad Railway Police on Monday.Stolen property worth Rs 3 lakh and 50 Ativan 2 mg tablets were recovered from them.Disclosing this to newsmen here, SP M Kantha Rao said Manoj Kumar Gupta, MA Aneef, Sanjay and Satish of New Delhi were involved in 17 offences from October 2007 to June 2011.Their modus operandi was to befriend co-passengers while travelling in general compartments. Later, they would offer the passengers biscuits, snacks, tea, coffee, juices or Prasadam laced with Ativan 2 mg tablets.When the passengers fell unconscious after consuming the snacks offered by them, the quartet would decamp with their valuables. The gang members with criminal background, were arrested several times earlier.The gang was involved in theft cases reported in Warangal, Nampally, Vikarabad, Guntakal, Yerraguntla, Secunderabad, Anantapur, Vijayawada, Gooty, Mahabubnagar and Nizamabad railway police station limits in the state.The quartet who are fluent in English and Hindi, used to live a luxurious life.The gang members were caught while they were moving suspiciously in Hussainsagar Express at Nampally railway station.The SP said constables Koteswara Rao and Ramesh would be rewarded suitably for nabbing the train robber gang.The railway police also arrested a suspended RTC conductor for duping passengers. By posing himself as a Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE), C Srikanth of Temple Alwal, tried to collect a penalty of Rs 200 from Jayaram for carrying rice and jowar bags without a luggage ticket in Medchal-Guntur passenger.Jayaram who grew suspicious about his behaviour, caught hold of Srikanth with the help of other passengers and handed him over to the Malkajgiri station master