Mumbai: 32-yr-old turns to crime when hawking fails; busted in 6 months

The accused confessed to stealing in more than a dozen cases, police said. Representation pic

For a 32-year-old Bandra resident, hawking imitation jewellery at Hill Road was not yielding good income with the BMC taking action against the hawkers. He then started selling his wares at Bandstand, when he stumbled upon a scooter key six months back, and that is when he quit hawking and turned to a life of crime.

That day, Abdul Sheikh used the key to open a scooter nearby and it worked, said police, adding that he stole some cash from the boot. During his hawking days, he had seen a few riders forgetting their keys in the ignition after parking the vehicle.

Sheikh would be on the lookout for such parked vehicles and stole money and valuables from scooter boots or storage case of motorcycles, said police. Whenever he would get his hands on Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 in cash, he would not steal for a month, they added.

The Bandra police had been receiving many complaints of robbery at Bandstand, including the one that finally led to his arrest. A resident of Sion Koliwada had come to Bandstand one day in January and forgotten to remove the key from the ignition of his scooter. After having spent some time by the sea, he returned to his vehicle and found the boot open. A bag containing R6.5 lakh in cash was missing. The money was to purchase a house, he had told the Bandra police in his complaint.

Also read: Mumbai: Fake food delivery boy held for thefts

Under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 9) Anil Paraskar, a team of Senior Inspector Rajesh Devre, Inspector Sagar Nikam and Assistant Inspector Vijay Achrekar started the probe.

They examined footage of several CCTV cameras, but could not figure out who exactly was committing the thefts, cops told mid-day. They then decided to set up a trap and parked two-wheelers along with the key. They kept a watch on these vehicles but no one came for many days.

Finally, on Sunday evening, Sheikh fell right into the trap and was caught red-handed, police said.

Sheikh is a native of Karnataka and lives in the Behram pada area of Bandra East. He has confessed to stealing valuables and cash in more than a dozen cases so far, an officer said.

Police also seized 12 keys of two-wheelers, stolen phones and some cash from him.

Rs 6.5l
Amount he stole from Sion man