Mumbai Crime: 35-year-old bookshop owner turns thief during lockdown

The stolen bikes

The lockdown has left many without a job across the country. The situation led to one such 35-year-old, who is the owner of a bookshop in a Navi Mumbai mall, turning into a vehicle thief. Vashi cops, who were on the lookout for a person who had been stealing vehicles from Juhu Gaon, and finally arrested the thief after over a month. They have recovered seven vehicles from him. The accused has been identified as Amit Sakpal, resident of Juhu Gaon. Sakpal, who lives with his parents, wife and children, co-owned a bookshop located in Little World Mall, Kharghar.

Amit Sakpal

DCP (Zone 1) Pankaj Dahane had instructed Senior Inspector Sanjeev Dhumal to form a team to nab the culprit. "We checked the CCTV footage connected to all the seven thefts, and found that the thief was only targetting vehicles around Juhu Gaon," said Dhumal. Cops placed bikes as bait and on the night of July 14, they noticed a man in his 30s trying to start one of these bikes. It was then that constables Shailendra Kadam and Sunil Chikane nabbed him after which he confessed.

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