Delhi Police on Thursday arrested two members of a gang of thieves from South Delhi’s Saket and recovered stolen goods including 16 mobile phones, six laptops and a motorcycle from them.
The arrested, identified as Balan and P Karthik, were deaf and mute men, representing special schools or orphanages, asking for donations to carry out robberies and thefts, police said.
Investigations revealed that the two men had traveled to Delhi by train from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, where they targeted rented accommodation, particularly occupied by students, an official said.
The stolen laptops were later sold in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the official added.
A police team under the supervision of ACP Abhinendra Jain and led by Inspector Girish Chandra employed both manual and technical surveillance and increased patrolling in sensitive areas of South Delhi district to nab criminals, police said.
Based on information, the team laid a trap near the Asian Market traffic junction and arrested the man.
“Around 1 pm, the team saw two people on a motorcycle without helmets. After our informant identified them, they were stopped for verification and asked to show the motorcycle documents. But they pretended to be dumb and deaf,” said Ankit Chauhan, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South.
He said the men also produced a letter showing entries of charitable donations made to them by various individuals, with signatures and some details.
“During a cursory search of their bags, 16 mobile phones and 6 laptops were recovered from them,” the DCP added.