Pratap Nagar police busted a racket of Mobile Tower Battery theft on Friday and arrested 5 members of the gang of 10, involved in stealing batteries from mobile towers, trucks and auto rickshaws. While the hunt for the remaining 5 is still on, the accused arrested accepted committing 17 incidences of theft and burglary.

Accused identified as Omprakash alias Baggi (22), Prakash Kalbelia alias Ladia (27), Bherulal Kalbelia (21), Manglilal Kalbelia (23) and Laxman Meghwal (29) of Pratap nagar area were nabbed by the police, based on the information received from the sources, said SHO.

In the initial interrogation it was revealed by the accused that they used to roam about in the city marking the places of mobile towers in the day and stole the batteries in the same night. They also used to target trucks and auto rickshaw parked at secluded places, said SHO.

Chandra Purohit, SHO informed that besides accepting stealing batteries, they admitted committing 9 thefts at Sukher, 6 at Pratap nagar, 1 at Gogunda and 1 at Dabok police station circle.

Revealing about their modus operandi, the accused said that they used to steal the batteries from the towers and sell them to scrap seller of the city. For the same, they had hired a loading tempo to deliver the stolen units of batteries.

SP Ajaypal Lamba while talking about the incidence of battery theft said that during the interrogation, they had informed the cops about the battery which consists of 90% LED is sold at quite a good price in the market.

The investigation and search for the rest of the 5 accused and scrap seller in the city is still on, SHO Pratap Nagar police station informed.