Noida: ‘Thak thak’ gang involved in over 200 thefts busted, four arrested

Four members of the alleged interstate “thak thak” gang were arrested on Saturday, police officers aware of the matter said, adding that two of them were held during a police crackdown on Friday night while the other two were nabbed on Saturday morning.

The gang allegedly stole valuables from parked cars by breaking window panes with a slingshot and has committed over 200 thefts.

All the four suspects were sent to judicial custody on Saturday after being produced before the court. According to deputy commissioner of police (Noida) Manish Kumar Mishra, two members of the gang were arrested on Friday night following a police crackdown in Sector 129.

“A motorcycle, two illegal .315 bore local-made pistols, three live cartridges, two spent cartridges, a slingshot with eight iron pellets, a laptop and its bag, two phones, two helmets, and ₹2,916 in cash were also recovered from their possession,” he said.

Police identified the arrested suspects as Deepak Chauhan alias Nikhil, Tarun Saxena alias Tannu, Chauhan’s wife, Neha Thakur and Jitendra Gautam alias Vinay. Chauhan is the alleged mastermind of the gang and has over 175 first information reports (FIRs) lodged against him in Noida and Delhi, officers said.

The Noida Expressway police spotted two men on a bike riding on the wrong side near during a routine check, the ADCP said. “When signalled to stop, the suspects attempted to flee. Police chased them and the pillion rider fired at police, who opened retaliatory fire that left the two suspects, Chauhan and Saxena, injured,” said the officer.

“They were taken to a hospital for treatment, where . The two revealed they would break the windows of parked vehicles and steal the items like laptops, bags, purses etc., Chauhan gave the items to his wife and Gautam who used to further sell them in the black market,” said the officer.

“Police arrested Gautam and Thakur on Saturday morning near the Sector 45 roundabout. Four laptops, four mobile phones, 21 mobile and laptop chargers, three laptop keyboards and a laptop base body were recovered from them,” the officer added.