2 held for stealing Rs 14 lakh in valuables

Two watchmen of Nepali origin have been arrested by the Manickpur police. They had allegedly stolen household items worth Rs 14 lakh from Surat and hid in Vasai before taking up jobs as watchmen there. Three other Nepali watchmen, who are wanted in the case, are absconding. The Manickpur police has faulted the residents for not verifying the credentials of the security guards before employing them.

A Vasai resident, Yogendra Ravi, on May 5 had complained of an attempted theft of a relative’s house before the Manickpur police station. “We had intensified night patrolling of the area” said PI Anil Patil of Manickpur police station. On midnight of June 6 midnight, we saw three persons moving around in a suspicious manner and we called them. However they tried to run away, and we chased they and took two of them to the police station, where Dharamraj Sharma (22) and Prakash Prem Giril (25) told us that they were watchmen at the Sahyadri Society, Anand Nagar, Vasai (West). After we opened their terrace cabin, we were shocked to find jewellery worth nearly Rs 12 lakh, Rs 88,000 in cash and electronic items like laptops, cellphones, expensive watches and foreign coins totally worth Rs 90,000 stacked in a bag. They confessed that they had stolen all this from a house in Surat and kept the loot with them,” said PI Patil.

The accused’s modus operandi was simple: During the day, the ‘watchmen’ would make a reconnaissance of their target and then break into locked homes and abscond with the loot, said the official.