They made off with cash, gold and silver ornaments worth Rs 15L; one accused at large
The three accused Nepali nationals in police custody
The Vishnu Nagar police in Dombivli have arrested three Nepali nationals who were involved in a series of housebreakings. The accused posed as house help, gained the trust of their employers by staying with them for a year before committing the theft, police said.
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In a recent case, they stole cash, gold and silver ornaments worth Rs 15 lakh from a businessman's house. The police have arrested the accused and recovered R6 lakh worth of valuables from them. One of the accused is still at large and is believed to have fled from the city. Police investigation has also revealed that the accused have criminal history of similar crimes and are always on the lookout for new targets. According to the police, the theft took place at the residence of Kundan Harichandra Mhatre a villager from Dombivli, who is the construction business.
Mhatre, in his statement to the police on July 27 said, “Sagar Vishwakarma alias Thappa, a Nepali national, had been working as a house help with them for the past 18 months. Mhatre alleged that Thappa broke the main gate and then the locker and took cash, gold, silver, ten types of watches all worth R15. 52 lakh. A case was registered at Vishnu Nagar police station under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023.
Sanjay Pawar, senior police inspector, Vishnu Nagar police station said, “As the house help was missing, the house owners’ first suspicions were on him. Accordingly, we started the investigation with the technical aspect. CCTV footage from nearby areas revealed a trio walking on the street at the time of the theft and Thappa following them. However, our suspicions were confirmed and we started the investigation that way.
Further scrutinising the footage, we found the three accompanying each other moving towards Kamothe in Panvel. Accordingly, on technical evidence and local sources, we detained the suspects,” added Pawar. The police said the arrested accused are Lilbahadur Lalbahadur Kami, 45, working as a helper at Chinese food restaturant; Manbahadur Sahi, 45; and Tekbahadur Sahi, 45. “While Kami was detained from Kamothe, other two were detained from Bangalore. All the three are from Nepal and came to India for work. We seized 159 grams of gold, 230 grams of silver and eight watches and cash worth R6.96 lakh,” said Pawar.
The police said they are now trying to trace Thappa who is absconding. “We learnt that Kami is the brother-in law of Thappa. And Kami seems to be the mastermind, who has a criminal record of three cases against him registered in Telangana where he had also served jail time. The accused alleged that they plant themselves as house help with well-to-do families. They gain the trust of the family members before committing the theft and vanishing. We are on the lookout for Thappa who took his share and fled,” said a police officer.
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