In the dead of night, how a gang of thieves disrupted services on a Delhi Metro line

Around 5 am on December 5, just as service was about to begin, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Control Room received an alert from the signalling department — there was an issue with the track circuits. When officials went to investigate, they found that a 140-metre-long signaling cable — vital equipment used to track the movement of trains — between Moti Nagar and Kirti Nagar stations had been severed.

For hours, Metro services on the Line, among the busiest routes, were disrupted.

DMRC staff, meanwhile, notified the authorities.

A week later, police have arrested four of the cable thieves.

DCP (Metro) Dr G Ram Gopal Naik said the men — Rashid Malik (26), Shahrukh Malik (29), Ramzan (32), and Junaid aka Bhura (32) — were arrested Tuesday from various locations in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Seven others — Faisal, Masoom, Nadeem, Siddhu, Teli, Sarfaraj and Islam — managed to flee.

Joint CP (Transport Range) Vijay Singh Wednesday said the Metro Police made the arrests and recovered 55 metres of stolen cable, a Tata Ace loader and two mobile phones.

The MO

After the complaint was lodged, a team led by Inspector Pawan Tomar (SHO Raja Garden Metro) was constituted, under the supervision of Dhirendra Nath Sharma (ACP North Metro) and the overall supervision of DCP Naik, to tackle the case.

During questioning of the accused, police found that the gang — led by Rashid, Faisal, Masoom and Junaid — would wait for Metro operations to cease before they struck. “Using ropes and hooks, Islam, Nadeem, Siddhu and Teli scaled the Metro pillars to reach the elevated tracks and cut the high-value copper cables which carry no electricity. Shahrukh and Ramzan would park the vehicle away from the scene to avoid suspicion,” said Joint CP Singh.

Police said Rashid and Faisal would transport the stolen cables to a godown in Mustafabad, where a portion was weighed and prepared for sale. The rest were initially shifted to a rented godown in Brajpuri before being further transported to another place for disposal, police learnt during the investigation.

Anuj Dayal, Principal Executive Director, DMRC, said: “DMRC appreciates the quick action by Delhi Police in arresting the accused persons to solve the signaling cable theft case which occurred on 05.12.2024 between Motinagar and Kirti Nagar Metro stations (Blue Line). This is a positive step in avoiding disruption of Metro services for the public and we hope will be a deterrent for others in the future.”

The FIR was lodged under BNS sections 303(2) and 329(3) and Section 74 of the DMRC Act. Police are tracing the accused on the run.

Joint CP Singh said with the latest arrest, the Metro Police has solved 22 out of 44 theft cases and has arrested 53 people in 2024, “making significant progress compared to 2023 when only 12 arrests were made”. He said police have conducted a security audit of DMRC metro stations and submitted a report on identified vulnerabilities that could facilitate such crimes.