Bengaluru: The personal drive of a Head Constable brought a 10-member gang of pickpockets into the police dragnet. This gang was stealing 25 mobiles every day and selling them at several locations across South India. When caught, the gang had 563 mobile phones with them, worth Rs 1.3 crore. 

The Head Constable Ranganath BK, working in the technical Center of the Bangalore police, has been personally tracking mobile phones for long after they were lost. After working for five years under the DySP of CID(CyberCrime), S Badrinath, the Head Constable kept monitoring the appearance of mobiles at different locations and giving clues to the investigators.

The gang, hoping that the vigil would fade with time would wait several months before taking the stolen mobiles out for use/ sale. They had not counted on this Head Constable who was persistent in keeping a track of over 10,000 mobiles that had gone missing over a period of three years.

A second-hand mobile seller in Hyderabad was first picked up. Over a period of two months, other members of the gang landed in the police net. Finally, in the wee hours of Thursday, police picked up the kingpin, Arif Khan who had set himself up as a Realtor and JDS Leader in Bengaluru. As many as 563 mobile phones were seized from this gang. The seized stock contained 12 Apple iPhones, 81 Samsung and 81 Mi Handsets.