Kanpur: Police in the Barra police station area of the city solved a theft case worth around Rs 15 lakh and arrested four accused, who allegedly splurged the stolen money on expensive mobile phones, a sports bike and a trip to Manali. Stolen jewellery, cash and foreign currency were also recovered from their possession.According to DCP South Deependra Nath Chaudhary, the arrests were made early Monday morning near Patrasa bridge with the help of CCTV footage and surveillance inputs. The arrested accused were identified as Prakash Gautam of Barra village, Ishu Gautam, Abhishek Gautam of Ravidaspuram, and Ajay Rajput of Gujjaini. Another accused, Robin, is still absconding and police teams are searching for him.Police said they recovered stolen jewellery, cash, along with 81 US dollars and 15 dirhams from the accused. During interrogation, the accused revealed that they used part of the stolen money to purchase an old sports bike worth Rs 4.50 lakh at Rs 1.5 lakh, expensive mobile phones and later went on a trip to Manali.The theft was reported by Satish Pandey, a marketing manager and resident of Barra-8, who had gone to Lucknow on January 12 along with his father Dinesh and mother Meera. Their house remained locked for about 20 days. Upon returning after Feb 1, they found the lock broken and valuables, including jewellery worth nearly Rs 15 lakh, missing. Following the complaint, a case was registered at Gujjaini police station and an investigation was launched.Police said Prakash has seven cases registered against him, while Ishu and Abhishek have three cases each, and Ajay has one case. During questioning, they admitted to committing thefts to fund their expensive lifestyl.Investigations further revealed that Ishu had a particular fascination for vehicles. He reportedly spent around Rs 13,000 to modify the bike. Police said efforts are on to arrest the absconding accused and probe other crimes linked to the gang.
