Maharashtra: Robbery plan foils after alert citizen calls police in Palghar

A robbery plan by six persons in Maharashtra's Palghar district was foiled after an alert citizen called the police who nabbed four of the accused, an official said.

District Rural Superintendent of Police Balasaheb Patil said that the ongoing Jansamwad Abhiyan among tribals, a campaign to encourage citizens to alert police about crimes, has yielded results.

Referring one such incident, he said a resident of Govade village spotted six persons hiding near a petrol pump on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway on May 16 and alerted the Manor police, who nabbed four of them while two managed to escape. The arrested persons has planned to commit dacoity at the petrol pump and rob passers-by on the highway, the official said.

The police seized a knife, two pistols, a screw driver, plier, two bundles of nylon rope, 20 pairs of hand gloves, white cloth pieces, four scarves and two rolls of brown packing tapes from them, he said. The accused were booked under Indian Penal Code Section 399 (making preparation to commit dacoity). They were produced before a local magistrate  who remanded them in police custody till May 19, the police added.