Lalpur-Pandeypur Police Arrest Four in Alleged Auto Chain-Snatching Gang

Lalpur-Pandeypur police and the Surveillance Cell arrested four people at an Azamgarh Road auto stand around 8:40 am on Wednesday, 16 September 2026, in a probe into alleged auto-borne chain snatching. DCP (Varuna zone) Pramod Kumar briefed that the group is linked to Gorakhpur and is accused of using a Scorpio parked on the Ring Road while entering the city in autos and e-rickshaws to target women travellers.

The predicate complaint dates to about 9 September near the Kali Mata temple. A woman alleged that three women distracted her inside an auto and took her neck chain. CCTV work and informant inputs followed. An auto driver was asked to tip police if the suspects returned. That tip, officers say, led to the Wednesday morning arrest at the Azamgarh Road stand — a busy boarding point where outstation and city autos mix.

The accused named in the police account are Baijnath alias Baiju, 50, of Farsar, police station Badhalganj, Gorakhpur; Seema, 30, of Karwaniya, Badhalganj, Gorakhpur; Pinki, 28, of Sohrabad, Raunapar, Azamgarh; and Kusum, 30, of Karwaniya, Badhalganj, Gorakhpur. Recovered items listed by police include two yellow-metal chains, two mobile phones, ₹27,000 in cash and one Scorpio.

The alleged method is distance plus distraction. Police say the group drove roughly 230 kilometres from Gorakhpur, left the SUV on the Ring Road, and moved inside city limits by hired auto or e-rickshaw. Once a woman passenger was engaged in conversation or jostled, the neck chain was taken and the team fled back to the parked vehicle. Prior cases are alleged against the three women in Varanasi, Jaunpur and Azamgarh; Baiju faces an FIR at Lalpur-Pandeypur.

Investigation for a wider Purvanchal network and an alleged kingpin is continuing. This desk will not invent further arrests or name a kingpin who has not been produced. Chain-snatching complaints in the Varuna zone often turn on exactly this pattern — outstation vehicles, local autos, and quick exits — which is why CCTV at temple approaches and auto stands has become a routine tool for the Surveillance Cell.

All roles and recoveries here are police allegations until a court tests them. Yellow-metal chains in a seizure list are evidence under probe, not a finished conviction. The Scorpio and cash sit in the same category. Women who travel alone in autos near Kali Mata and other crowded temple approaches should treat the police advisory as operational, not as a closed case file.

The Arrest Wednesday morning closes one alleged unit tied to a 9 September complaint. It does not close every chain-snatching report in the zone. Officers say the network probe continues; readers should wait for named productions before assuming a larger sweep. For Lalpur-Pandeypur, the stamp this week is four arrests, a recovered SUV, and a continuing network file.