Editor’s Note
This report details the renewed attention on Jogiya village following the arrest of a suspect in a luxury car theft case. The incident highlights the far-reaching implications of such crimes.
The arrest of Ujale by Pune police in a luxury car theft case has brought Jogiya village back into the headlines. Delhi… Read More.
A file photo of Ujale’s house in Jogiya village, under Gādha panchayat, Pupri block, Sitamarhi district.
Correspondent, (Pupri) Sitamarhi:
After the arrest of Mohd. Irfan alias Ujale by Pune police, Jogiya village under Gādha panchayat in the Pupri police station area has once again come into the limelight. It is reported that Pune police arrested him in Pune itself on Saturday on charges of stealing expensive cars. However, even before this, 26 cases are registered against him in other states including Delhi NCR, Agra, Lucknow, Punjab, and Goa. He has been to jail several times.
In October 2021, he was arrested in a theft worth crores from a bungalow in Kavinagar, Ghaziabad, and action was taken against him under the Gangster Act. Meanwhile, his relatives have no information about Ujale’s arrest. For now, his elderly mother lives at home. People in the neighborhood are also unaware of Ujale’s arrest. People say he hasn’t come home for about a year.
Irfan, who appears simple and straightforward, is known in the area by the name Ujale. He and Gādha village first came into the headlines in 2017 when he was arrested in Delhi in a case of theft of crores worth of jewelry and luxury vehicles. After being found involved in theft incidents in cities like Delhi, Kanpur, Agra, Jalandhar, etc., he dominated the national media as the ‘benevolent thief’. The reason for this is that initially, after coming home in luxury vehicles, he started building an identity in the area based on money. Wherever there was a theater or orchestra in the area, he would reach there and squander thousands of rupees in a moment.
Even though Ujale may be a cunning thief in the eyes of the police, his image in the eyes of the villagers is something else. He had started helping the village and surrounding people, solving problems related to public interest in the village on his own, and also helping in someone’s daughter’s wedding and treatment of the sick. For this reason, during the preparations for the Panchayat elections in October 2021, Kavinagar police arrested him in a theft worth crores in Ghaziabad along with a luxury vehicle, but despite this, his wife won the District Council seat in the Panchayat elections. His supporters were quite excited about this. Now, with the arrest, the police have started tightening the screws on him again.
Villagers say that just a few days after his wife’s victory on the District Council seat in the Panchayat elections, Ujale came home on bail and started living there. During this time, he started roaming around the village to learn about people’s problems. He used to meet people to discuss development in the area. Exactly six months later, his health also deteriorated, but as soon as he recovered after treatment, he went out again. Meanwhile, since the Panchayat elections, his contribution to any social activity has not been seen.
