Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], June 5 (ANI): Bhopal police busted an interstate thieve gang and arrested three accused from three different locations in the state, a police officer said on Thursday.

The team also recovered Gold and silver jewellery worth approximately Rs 22 lakh, Rs 24,000 in cash and two four wheelers from the accused. Additionally, the police have freezed the accounts of the accused.

The accused have been identified as Yashwant Raghuvanshi (30), Bhupendra Sahu (29) and Abhilash Vishwakarma (33). They used to perform recce of empty houses before committing theft, after that they used to call their aides from other states to Bhopal and then commit theft with them.

Bhopal Commissioner of Police (CP) Harinarayanchari Mishra said, 'An SIT (Special Investigation Team) was constituted in view of increasing incidents of theft in vacant houses in the city. In this episode, while probing and gathering technical evidence of a theft that took place in Danish Kunj, the police found a suspicious car in CCTV cameras installed nearby the house whose one digit of name plate was not visible. Later police received information about Yashwant Raghuvanshi, a resident of Vidsha and Bhupendra Sahu, a resident of Raisen, who live together near Katara Hills in the city and also have a similar car with the same number which the police was looking for. Also, the friend of these two suspects, Abhilash Vishvakarma, also lives with them, who has already been imprisoned in Barangal jail, Telangana in a theft case.'

Based on the information, the police took suspects Yashwant Raghuvanshi, Bhupendra Sahu and Abhilash Vishwakarma into custody respectively from Vidisha district, Katara Hills Bhopal and from Chhindwara district and interrogated them, the police officer said.

'All the three suspects confessed to committing thefts in different areas of Bhopal along with their associates from other states. During interrogation, the accused confessed to committing 3 thefts in Kolar police station and 1 theft in Katara Hills Police Station along with their associates,' CP Mishra said.

The accused further told police that they used to deposit the stolen jewellery in a finance company located in Mandideep, take gold loan for the same and invest that money, he added.

'Gold and silver jewellery worth about Rs 22 lakh and Rs 24,000 cash were seized from the possession of the three arrested accused. Gold worth about Rs 40 lakh deposited in the Finance company has been freezed and taken into investigation. Transaction records of about Rs 60 lakh have been found from the accounts of the accused. All the accounts have been freezed and taken into investigation. Two four wheelers used in the incident were also seized and the search for the remaining gang member is going on,' the officer said.

Further probe into the matter is underway, he added. (ANI)