Men ‘recruited’ for robbery gang with daily targets, given monthly salaries

Six unemployed men were hired as thieves by a 21-year old man - Ashish Meena in Jaipur, to rob mobile phones, gold chains and motorcycles. He allegedly paid each one a salary of INR 15,000 per month and set a target of at least one crime per day. If this target was not met, he deducted salary.

The seven members including the leader were arrested on Tuesday on charges of snatching mobile phones and gold chains, and stealing motorcycles in the city, as stated by the Deputy Commissioner of Police.

After a sudden increase in mobile and chain snatching, CCTV footage was scanned by a special team, and they also tracked the stolen mobile phones' locations to identify the said gang. Upon getting a hint of the members hiding a rented house in Pratap Nagar, the special team raided it.

A total number of 33 mobile phones, 4 motorcycles, 2 chains and a laptop were recovered from the gang. They used these stolen motorcycles to further snatch and steal mobiles and chains. The entire loot would then be deposited with the gang leader, who would sell these and thus make money.

The gang members were & lsquo recruited' in July, and have committed at least 36 crimes, as confessed by them. All six men were below the age of 25 and “ they were all illiterate and jobless. Ashish gave them an offer of monthly salary to commit crimes. They shifted to a house in Jaipur to operate” , the police said.