The Pant Nagar police in Ghatkopar are leveraging the recently enacted Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) to dismantle local criminal syndicates. Two individuals with extensive criminal histories have been arrested under the newly added Section 112, which addresses petty organized crime.
Section 112 states: “Whoever, being a member of a group or gang, either singly or jointly, commits any act of theft, snatching, cheating, unauthorized selling of tickets, unauthorized betting or gambling, selling of public examination question papers or any other similar criminal act, is said to commit petty organized crime.” It further explains, “For the purposes of this sub-section, ‘theft’ includes trick theft, theft from a vehicle, dwelling house, or business premises, cargo theft, pickpocketing, theft through card skimming, shoplifting, and theft of Automated Teller Machines.”
The punishment for petty organized crime is imprisonment for a term not less than one year, potentially extending to seven years, along with a fine, as per the new section of BNS.
Previously, the Indian Penal Code did not address organized crime or petty organized crime, which fell under state laws such as the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (MCOCA). The police state that BNS’s new provisions make it easier to combat these crimes.
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The Pant Nagar police arrested Tushar Sunil Gaikwad alias Bala and Sandeep Daddu Singh Rathore, both 25, and residents of Kamraj Nagar in Ghatkopar. According to the police, these individuals operated in gangs notorious for housebreaking and theft in the Ghatkopar and Kurla areas, including at railway stations where they robbed shops at night. Despite multiple arrests, they resumed their activities immediately after being released on bail or serving short jail terms, a police officer said.
“Most theft-related sections are bailable, or they result in short prison sentences. As soon as they get out, they resume their activities. The new Section 112 on petty organized crime is a great addition because the magistrate court won’t let them come out on bail,” said Rajesh Kevale, senior police inspector of Pant Nagar police station.
Kevale added that the two accused, currently in police custody until Monday, have been involved in theft for the past seven years. They have a gang but did not reveal much during police interrogation. The two accused have over 10 cases against them currently in Mumbai jurisdiction.
The arrests were made following a report from a Ghatkopar-based electronic shop about a theft. According to the complainant, two unknown individuals entered the shop at night. After robbing the shop, they broke open a shutter of a neighboring hotel but did not steal anything from it, the police said. Apart from the petty organised crime section, they two are booked under sections 305 (theft in a dwelling house), 331 (4) (lurking house-trespass or housebreaking after sunset and before sunrise), 331 (5) (lurking house-trespass having made preparation for causing hurt or for assaulting) among others of the BNS, 2023.
