CI Ramswaroop Meena Achieves Major Success: Thief Arrested Within 24 Hours, Bag Full of Cigarettes Recovered

Kota: City Superintendent of Police Ms. Tejaswini Gautam stated that all police station in-charges in Kota city had been directed to take strict action against property-related criminals. In compliance with these instructions, a police team was formed under the close supervision of Additional Superintendent of Police Dilip Saini and the guidance of Circle II DSP Dr. Poonam.

The team was led by Railway Colony Police Station SHO Ramswaroop Meena and included Assistant Sub-Inspector Tariq Aziz and constables Ajit Singh and Suresh. Through hard work and persistent efforts, the team successfully arrested the accused Ashish and recovered a bag filled with stolen cigarettes from his possession.

Modus Operandi

According to the police, Ashish Kandara needed money to buy smack (a narcotic substance). In 2022, he stole a scooter from the Mahaveer Nagar police station area and initially used it to steal oil drums.

Ashish would visit large oil warehouses or shops pretending to purchase an oil drum. While talking politely and distracting the shopkeeper by asking for other items, he would seize the opportunity to lift the oil drum, place it on the stolen scooter, and escape.

However, since oil drums were heavy and sold at relatively low prices, he later shifted to stealing cigarettes. He would engage shopkeepers in conversation under the pretext of organizing weddings, parties, or other events. While the shopkeeper was distracted, he would quickly place a large carton of cigarettes on his scooter and flee. Later, he sold the stolen cigarettes in the market posing as a salesman.

Police said that Ashish Kandara had previously been arrested in a case related to the scooter stolen from the Mahaveer Nagar area. Recently, he had been committing cigarette thefts using another stolen scooter taken from the Jawahar Nagar police station area.

In a single theft, he used to steal goods worth around ₹40,000 to ₹50,000. During interrogation, he confessed to nearly a dozen thefts involving cigarettes and oil drums across several police station areas, including Railway Colony, Bhimganj Mandi, Gumanpura, Mahaveer Nagar, Anantpura, and Kishorpura.

Ashish Kandara already has nine criminal cases registered against him at various police stations—including Dadabari, RK Puram, Jawahar Nagar, Kishorpura, Mahaveer Nagar, Udyog Nagar, and Railway Colony—for offenses such as theft, assault, illegal possession of weapons, and obstructing government work.