Nashik cops raid warehouse in Mumbai, recover stolen BSNL cables worth Rs 2.8 cr, godown owner among six held

Nashik: The city police claim they have cracked six cases of BSNL underground cable theft reported from various parts of Nashik over the past two years after the arrest of six suspects and seizure of stolen material worth Rs 2.8 crore from a godown at Bhandup in Mumbai.The police are not ruling out the role of an organised racket operating across Maharashtra, involving theft of telecom cables for extracting and selling copper and aluminium to scrap dealers. For now, the police are investigating the Nashik cases.On Nov 7, 2024, a theft case was registered at the Nashik Road police station. A BSNL official had reported that unidentified people had stolen the underground cable between 1am and 3am on Nov 6.

This theft came to light when the officials started receiving numerous complaints about dead phone lines later that morning. During an inspection, the officials found that a concrete BSNL chamber in front of the Nashik Road flyover had been broken open.

Further investigation revealed that the underground jelly-filled cable had been stolen. CCTV footage from the area later showed the suspects using a crane during the early hours to pull the heavy cables out of the ground.

The stolen cable from this single incident was valued at Rs 6.7 lakh.Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Kirankumar Chavan said, “Five suspects were initially arrested by the Nashik Road police for a separate, but similar, cable theft incident. On Thursday, the crime branch unit 1 took custody of the five suspects for questioning regarding the Nov 2024 theft incident. During interrogation, the suspects revealed that the stolen goods were being kept in a warehouse owned by 50-year-old Rajkumar Jain in Bhandup, Mumbai.

”The police subsequently raided the warehouse and recovered 17.5 tonnes of aluminum cable, as well as copper and aluminum that had already been separated by melting 14.5 tonnes of jelly-filled wire. The total value of the seized material exceeds Rs 2.8 crore.As the investigation progressed, the police found the involvement of the suspects in underground thefts registered this year at the Sarkarwada, Mumbai Naka, Indiranagar, and Mhasrul police stations.

Aside from the warehouse owner, three other suspects are residents of Bhandup, while the remaining two are from Chembur and Bihar.On Friday, the warehouse owner was remanded in police custody till Monday. The other thieves have been remanded in magisterial custody.The case is being investigated further by the crime branch under the guidance of Nashik city police commissioner Sandeep Karrnik.