Mumbai crime: Man steals 8 kg silver, over Rs 5 lakh cash from jeweller's office, undone by his shoe sole

Balwant Gupta (in mask) said he committed the crime as he was desperate for money but didn’t know how to sell the stolen silver ornaments

The Dadar police have solved a near-perfect theft in a jeweller's office on the 14th floor of a building. The suspect, an electrician, apparently went to the 17th floor, slid three floors down a duct and took away 8 kg of silver ornaments and Rs 5.35 lakh cash. The man, who lost his job due to Covid, had planned the theft over a couple of months by chalking out his route to evade CCTV cameras, said the police.

The crime was discovered on January 31 when the staff of Divine Solitaire reached their office on the 14th flood of Naman Midtown, Dadar. They found valuables and cash missing. The staff then filed a police complaint. "We checked the footage of several CCTV cameras to find whether any new or unknown person has entered the building, didn't find anything substantial. But during the screening of CCTV footage of inside building our team saw a person walking in a burkha," said an officer from Dadar police station. "There was nothing about the person to identify, except the sole of one shoe, which is frequently used in trekking," he added.

The CCTV footage of the building before and after 24 hours of theft threw up the visuals of a person in a backpack having an identical walking style as the person in the burkha. As they began tracking the person, they had to scan the footage of about 140 CCTV cameras to find that the suspect had travelled from Panvel to Dadar by taking train, auto and taxi.

Further technical analysis and human intelligence helped the police nab Balwant Gupta from Panvel. Gupta, an electrician, had visited the office of Divine Solitaire a couple of times and found jewellery lying on tables. After he lost his job in 2020 due to Covid, he struggled to make ends meet. At the time, he was father back in Lucknow was diagnosed with cancer.

"When we nabbed him and interrogated him, he refused to confess the crime but when the CCTV footage was shown to him, he broke down," said DCP (Zone 5) Pranay Ashok. "We also suspect he has active involvement in such thefts in Ghatkopar," he added. The officer said they have recovered the entire stolen property. Gupta has been remanded in police custody till February 18. The crime was busted by a dedicated team under the guidance of senior PI Mahesh Mugutkar of Dadar police station. It comprised inspector Sagar Shivalkar, Pramod Ahire, Sharad Kakad and constable Mahesh Kolte.

Revisited spot, left clues

Once he decided to rob the place, Gupta marked the CCTVs that he had to avoid. He had carried two pairs of clothes and a burkha to change but his trekking shoes undid him. After stealing jewellery and cash on January 29, Gupta realised that he had forgotten to remove the video storing device or DVR of the CCTV cameras inside office. He revisited the office the next day and took the DVR with him. Later, he realised that he had stolen only silver ornaments and he had no idea how to sell them. He was arrested before he planned his next step.