21 January,2016 07:18 AM IST | | Sagar Rajput
Following a tip-off by a rival, cops have arrested one of their informers who had been committing crimes and misleading them since 2009
A 22-year-old police informer, who had been committing crimes right under the nose of policemen for the last seven years, has been arrested. With his arrest, cops have cracked 20 cases since 2009, in which the accused was involved. However, he was arrested in only one case in 2013, which was a house break-in.
Mukesh Gawde
Mukesh Anil Gawde, a Khar Danda resident, was arrested last week from his home, following a tip-off by one of his rivals. Police said that Gawde has been specialising in robberies and burglaries since 2009.
With his arrest, the cops have cracked 20 cases. Senior Police Inspector Dattatrey Bhargude from Khar police station confirmed the matter and said that Gawde has been taken into custody.
Police said that they recently received a tip-off from one of Gawde's rivals on some of his recent crimes. Based on this, a police team from Khar raided his house and recovered jewellery and cash. In all, Gawde has confessed to 20 cases so far, of which he had also committed a theft of R35 lakh in a jewellery shop in Khar two years ago.
He has been committing crime since he was 16 years old. Gawde would mislead the investigators by giving wrong tip-offs after every crime he committed.
Good climber
Gawde, who is only five feet tall, used to park himself outside residential societies in the night on the pretext of sleeping on the footpath.
"He would decide on the flat he was going to target after seeing whether there were clothes drying in the balcony and also if the lights had been switched off for too long," said an officer from Khar police
station.
Since he is a good climber, Gawde would climb sewage pipes and reach up to four to five floors without any support. Then, he would cut the grill with a cutter and burgle the house. At times, Gawde also entered though the air conditioner duct.
False tip-offs
The day after the crime, Gawde ensured that he visited the police station. He was in the good books of some of the police officers and took advantage of the same. "At times, he gave us good inputs on other cases, for which he was rewarded. But for his crimes, he tried to implicate his rivals who were then picked up for inquiry." the officer added.
