Maharashtra: Two held for assaulting, robbing people

Two men were arrested for allegedly robbing and assaulting people in running vehicles in separate cases here, police said on Monday.

The duo, Suresh Singh (31) and Pravin Helkar, (32) has a number of criminal cases registered against them at various police stations in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane and Palghar.

They were nabbed over a span of a week in different cases, but their modus operandi was the same - assaulting people and decamping with their valuables while they were travelling in vehicles, the police said.

On November 30 last year, a Borivli-based man was assaulted by an unidentified person, who forced him to sit inside an autorickshaw and later robbed him of valuables like gold and cash collectively worth Rs 1.30 lakh, they said.

The Borivli police had registered a case and were investigating when a similar crime was reported in the same area, only this time the victim was a senior citizen.

In the second case, the senior citizen was travelling in an autorickshaw when an unidentified man stopped the three-wheeler and forcibly entered inside.

The accused then assaulted the elderly man and robbed him of Rs 5,009 in cash, the police said. They formed a special team to nab the accused.

The team suspected that the accused could be active in adjacent cities as well and got in touch with the police in Navi Mumbai and Thane, who shared information on similar cases in their respective areas.

With the help of technical evidence and human intelligence, the police zeroed in on Singh and Helkar.

Police laid a trap and nabbed Singh from Kalamboli (Navi Mumbai) on February 18 and Helkar from Kalyan (Thane district) on February 23, they said.

During the probe, it was revealed the arrested duo had previous cases of attempt to murder, firing, arms possession and theft registered against them at police stations in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane, they added.