A gang of robbers uprooted a 29-foot telecom tower in Patna's Sabzibagh and escaped using the guise of telecom company employees, staging a remarkable robbery scenario that has gone viral in India. The incident has left cops red-faced and local residents in worry.
The tower was reported missing by technicians working for GTL Infra technicians. The mobile tower and other equipment were missing while they are performing a review of mobile towers to launch 5G services.
The tower, which cost thousands of dollars as per some media reports, was installed on the top of a four-storey house owned by a man named Shaheen Qayoom. A complaint was filed against the unidentified gang after Mohammad Shahnanawa Anwar, the area manager of GTL, discovered the cell tower missing.
The case was filed under Section 379 (forcible theft) of the IPC.
"The tower was installed in the year 2006 by Aircel but in 2017 they sold the tower to GTL company. As the mobile tower was not working, the company did not pay rent to the house owner for the past few months. The house owner asked the company to remove the tower from their roof," said Sabihul Haque, SHO of Pirbahore police station.
Qayoom told police that a group of men arrived and dismantled the tower. According to the home's owner, the fake technicians said that a new tower will be installed shortly because the current one was having some technical difficulties.
"Now the company claims that their employee did not remove the tower. The matter is pretty confusing, but we have started the investigation," SHO Haque said.
Similar incidents took place in India last year when a group of the same kind dismantled an entire iron bridge in Rohtas and a railway engine in Begusarai. The investigation is underway.
In April 2022, a group of individuals acting as government employees from the Irrigation Department dismantled a 60-foot-long steel bridge over the course of three days with the use of gas-cutters and earthmovers, in the Rohtas region of Bihar.
In a similar shocking episode, in November 2022, robbers in Bihar stole a complete train's diesel engine from a railway yard in the region of Begusarai. The burglars dug a tunnel to the yard, where they began stealing the engine piece by piece until they had removed the entire thing.
(Edited by : Priyanka Deshpande)
First Published: Jan 20, 2023 9:57 PM IST
Check out our in-depth Market Coverage, Business News & get real-time Stock Market Updates on CNBC-TV18. Also, Watch our channels CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz and CNBC Bajar Live on-the-go!
Lok Sabha Election 2024: Phase 5 voting concludes with over 57% voter turnout, experts weigh in on key battles
May 20, 2024 11:07 PM
BJP holds meeting in Delhi as polling underway for 5th phase
May 20, 2024 4:21 PM
UP Police arrests man after viral videos shows him voting multiple times
May 20, 2024 2:18 PM