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Pune City police have invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against a history-sheeter and five associates for allegedly attacking and robbing senior citizens in several parts of Pune and other districts.
According to the police, on March 3 the accused including gang leader Sandeep Bhagwan Hande (25), and his associates — Kishor Kalyan Changhate (21), Bholesh alias Krushna Kisan Chavan (25), Bharat Badrinath Changhate, all from Aurangabad, Mangesh Bandu Gunde (20) of Jalna, Vikram Deepak Thapa alias VK (19) of Nashik — armed with sharp-edged weapons had allegedly attacked and robbed senior citizens at their residence in the plush Panchavati area in Pashan.
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On April 25, too, the accused had allegedly robbed at knife-point valuables worth Rs 15.8 lakh from a septuagenarian couple at their bungalow at a Sindh society in Aundh’s Sadhu Vaswani Nagar.
Separate offences were lodged in these two cases at Chaturshringi police station. During the investigation, the police arrested the six accused and recovered Rs 21.75 lakh from their possession.
Further probe revealed that Hande would work as a caretaker at the residence of the senior citizens, conduct a recce of the area before robbing them. Police said the gang had allegedly committed seven serious crimes in Pune, Aurangabad and Jalna districts.
Senior Police Inspector Rajkumar Waghchoure of Chaturshringi police station submitted a proposal to invoke MCOCA against Hande and his gang members. DCP (zone 4) Pankaj Deshmukh forwarded the proposal to Additional Commissioner of Police Namdev Chavan, who approved it after verifying the criminal records. Currently, Assistant Commissioner of Police Ramesh Galande is investigating the case.