3 members of Kala Kachha gang arrested in P’kula

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, September 5

Three members of the Kala Kachha gang were arrested by the police for committing spate of dacoities and holding families hostage not only in Panchkula but also across Punjab, Himachal, Rajasthan and interior areas of Haryana.

The accused identified as Shadeen, alias Aamir, Usmaan and Sakeer, alias Vishal (all aged between 25 and 35 years), residents of Muzzafarnagar in Uttar Pradesh were called – Chhaemaar gang in their area. They would not just attack the families in their sleep but would also attack them with batons on their head and tie them before fleeing. The police said that they were a gang of over 12 members and police teams had been sent to arrest the remaining accused.

In May this year, terror had gripped Panchkula when two dacoities were reported by the gang within five days. On May 17, the gang attacked a family at Barwala where a couple was severely injured on the head. Before fleeing with Rs 25,000 and jewellery, they tied hands of their children. Similarly on May 22, six members of a family were attacked by 12 members of the gang who looted them of cash and jewellery worth Rs 4 lakh and tied them before fleeing. 

The police said they were ‘career criminals’.  Career criminals are those who earn their living by committing criminal activities, said the police.

The police said that the gang would become active between May and September. The gang had committed a similar dacoity in the Maheshnagar area (Ambala) on July 17 and then in Naraingarh and Karnal in the same month.

“The members of the Kala Kachha gang always remain on the move and can walk 22 kilometers at a stretch. The gang particularly looks for houses on the outskirts and in the peripheral areas where one cannot get immediate assistance or help from the police.

The gang mostly commits crimes on farms which fall on the outskirts of a town. Sometimes the gang sets up temporary shelters on river banks or take shelters in rooms as they had done in Himachal Pradesh,” said Commissioner of Police OP Singh.

Three members always remain outside the house where they are committing the crime in while others commit the crime.

Last evening, they had set up a temporary shelter on the banks of a rivulet in Kona village in Pinjore when the police arrested them. Mobile phones helped police in tracing and arresting them.

The police had raided their area in UP as well. Their involvement is suspected in another case in Ropar where a woman has been raped.

The police have written to Himachal Pradesh Police as they often flee to Himachal Pradesh and stay in simple rooms on cheap rent.

The police got the lead from a boy in Himachal Pradesh with whom they had stayed.