Mumbai Crime: Thief turns 'delivery boy' to pocket money, is held

Jayesh Ashokram Mutthu left his bag carrying items for delivery, when he went to hand over one. But (right) Muzaheed Ansari fled with it

The Santacruz police have arrested a 19-year-old history-sheeter, for stealing a delivery boy's parcels, and dropping them off himself to pocket the cash-on-delivery! He stole the delivery boy's bag containing 30 expensive items which the victim had to deliver in housing societies in Santacruz, Juhu and Versova. Interestingly, the Santacruz police had earlier arrested the accused, who committed this crime when he was out on bail.

Police said the delivery boy, Jayesh Ashokram Mutthu, 26, had parked his two-wheeler near Rajesh Khanna Garden at Santacruz, and left his heavy bag containing the items, to deliver a parcel to a nearby flat.

Later Ansari himself delivered the parcels he had stolen, to pocket the cash-on-delivery

Followed the victim
"The accused, Muzaheed Mubarak Ansari, happened to see the victim leave his office for the deliveries, and followed him. After Mutthu went to deliver a parcel, Ansari fled with his bag. After returning from delivery, Mutthu did not find the bag and came to our police station and registered a case," said an officer attached to the Santacruz police station.

Senior inspector of Santacruz police station, Sriram Koregaonkar, said the case was registered under section 379 (theft) of IPC. "Our detection officer, Vinayak Jadhav, cracked the case within two hours of the offence," said Koregaonkar.

Another officer said Ansari, who worked with an online shopping site, had been fired. Since he had worked with it, he was aware of how the parcels are delivered, said the officer. The parcels contained international cosmetic products.

A customer gave the police his mobile no. They saw his picture on WhatsApp, recognised and arrested him Illustrations/Ravi Jadhav

Delivered parcels himself
"Ansari then began delivering the goods to the addresses given in the delivery challan book kept in the bag. All the parcels were very expensive and carried the price tags on the box. Interestingly, he started to deliver them, and pocketed the cash on delivery," he added. Ansari collected Rs 6,000 from customers. Mutthu, seated at the police station to register the case, started to get the 'delivery messages' on his mobile. The police alerted all the customers to whom the remaining parcels were to be delivered.

Customer helps trap
One of the customers had asked for Ansari's number to complain if the cosmetic product was not genuine. When the police alerted her, she told them that she had the number of the delivery boy (Ansari). "With the help of his WhatsApp profile picture, we realised that he is a history-sheeter who was arrested previously by us in a theft case," an officer said.

With the help of the woman, the police asked Ansari to come to 15th Road at Santacruz West. "On the phone, she told Ansari that she had received the wrong parcel, and if he came to 15th Road, she would give him a Rs 2000 cash reward. Ansari came to the address and we arrested him," the officer said. The police have seized Ansari's motorcycle, the stolen delivery bag, and the cash he had pocketed after delivering some parcels.

Also Read: Mumbai: Thief targets woman cop's house, is nabbed immediately

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