Nashik city police have successfully solved six cases of underground BSNL cable theft reported across Nashik over the past two years. This breakthrough came after the arrest of six suspects and the seizure of stolen material valued at Rs 2.8 crore from a godown in Bhandup, Mumbai.
Organized Racket Suspected
Police are not ruling out the involvement of an organized racket operating across Maharashtra. The thefts are believed to target telecom cables for extracting copper and aluminium to sell to scrap dealers. Currently, investigations are focused on the Nashik cases.
November 2024 Theft Incident
On November 7, 2024, a theft case was registered at the Nashik Road police station. A BSNL official reported that unidentified individuals stole an underground cable between 1 am and 3 am on November 6. The theft was discovered when officials received numerous complaints about dead phone lines. Inspection revealed a concrete BSNL chamber near the Nashik Road flyover had been broken open, and the underground jelly-filled cable was missing. CCTV footage showed suspects using a crane to pull heavy cables from the ground. The stolen cable from this incident alone was valued at Rs 6.7 lakh.
Arrests and Seizure
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Kirankumar Chavan stated, “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 November 2024 theft. During interrogation, they revealed that stolen goods were kept in a warehouse owned by 50-year-old Rajkumar Jain in Bhandup, Mumbai.”
Police raided the warehouse and recovered 17.5 tonnes of aluminium cable, along with copper and aluminium that had been separated by melting 14.5 tonnes of jelly-filled wire. The total value of seized material exceeds Rs 2.8 crore.
Further Investigations
Investigations revealed the suspects' involvement in underground thefts registered this year at Sarkarwada, Mumbai Naka, Indiranagar, and Mhasrul police stations. Apart from the warehouse owner, three other suspects are from Bhandup, while the remaining two are from Chembur and Bihar.
On Friday, the warehouse owner was remanded in police custody until 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.
