Police nab member of gang suspecte of killing ''hundreds''

Lucknow, Mar 29 (UNI) The Special Operations Group (SOG) of Meerut Police today arrested a man suspected to be member of a gang of about 40 people that specialised in stealing vehicles and killing passengers.

While Salim has confessed of killing at least three persons, the police claimed the gang could be involved in the killing of ''hundreds'' of innocents in the recent past.

DGP office said here that acting on a tip-off, the SOG arrested Salim from near a petrol pump in Meerut and recovered a mobile phone and papers of a stolen pick up truck.

The mobile belonged to a medical representative the gang had killed recently. Explaining the modus operandi of the gang, ASP (headquarters) S C Pandey said here that the gangsters used to use the stolen vehicles as maxi cabs outside railway stations and bus stands.

Gullible passengers were made to sit in the middle while other gangsters, posing as passengers, used to occupy seats on either sides. The gangsters used to later strangulate the passenger and dump his body on highways and decamped with valuables.

The police said like Salim, the kingpin Ali Ahmed also belonged to Bahraich district. The gang operates in Varanasi, West UP and Central UP.

They also denied reports that Salim was a serial killer. ''He is a member of an organised gang which kills people for valuables,'' Mr Pandey said.

UNI