Police Commissioner SD Sharanappa at a press conference in Kalaburagi on Monday. | Photo credit: ARUN KULKARNI
In a major breakthrough, the police arrested a notorious interstate gang of seven and seized assets worth ₹27.30 lakh.
Addressing reporters here on Monday, Commissioner of Police SD Sharanappa said the arrest was made in the early hours of January 23 following a tip-off that a gang armed with deadly weapons was targeting vehicles near Tavaragera Cross on the outskirts of the city.
A special police team arrested the suspects on the spot and took them into custody.
The arrested men were identified as Zahir Abbas Ali, Ali Razak, Lal Sameer Sheikh, Khaseem, Ali Mirza, Jafar Ali Syed and Jafar.
While six of them are from Maharashtra, Khaseem is from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.
The police seized a car, two motorcycles, iron rods, swords, chilli powder and a black substance used to commit crime from the gang members.
During interrogation, the police found that the gang followed a systematic modus operandi.
Two members stop the vehicles posing as police personnel, introduce themselves as Delhi Police and warn the passengers to keep their gold ornaments and cash safe while saying that criminals were active in the area.
Once they gain the victims’ trust, other gang members join them and rob the victims of money and gold ornaments.
Dr. Sharanappa said gang members were also involved in selling items such as belts, perfumes and spectacles on roads and highways during the day, using it as a cover activity to identify potential victims and study traffic movement.
This tactic helped them avoid suspicion, gather information about passengers, and plan robberies in the late night and early morning hours.
Based on their confession, the police recovered 90 grams of gold ornaments worth ₹15.30 lakh and a vehicle worth ₹12 lakh which was used in these crimes, making the total value of seized assets ₹27.30 lakh.
Dr. Sharanappa said the gold ornaments recovered from the gang were found hidden under the seat of the car used in the crimes.
Police said one of the accused, Zahir Abbas Ali, was a wanted criminal in Uttar Pradesh and a reward of ₹15,000 was announced for his arrest.
The gang is believed to be involved in several cases of impersonation, extortion and robbery in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana and Karnataka.
A case was registered under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Arms Act. All the accused were produced before the court and remanded in judicial custody.
Published – 02 Feb 2026 19:51 IST
