10 March,2017 08:30 AM IST | | Samiullah Khan
The Aarey police arrest a 25-year-old pizza guy who made home deliveries and then just walked away with any bike or car he fancied from the residential society compound
Faizan Afzal Patel (25) goes to deliver a pizza to a customer and fancies a car in the compound
Nobody likes shelling out extra for home delivery, but it pinches even more when you order a pizza and end up paying with your bike. The police have arrested a 25-year-old pizza guy who made home deliveries and then just walked away with any bike or car he fancied from the compound.
He spots the keys lying in the watchman's cabin and flees with the four-wheeler
The delivery boy, Faizan Afzal Patel (25), had a taste for fancy bikes and cars, an interest he inherited from his father, who runs a spare parts shop in Vasai. Patel could not afford to buy a vehicle on his modest salary as a delivery boy, but his job did give him access to residential compounds where there were plenty of bikes and cars for the taking. Every time he went to deliver food at somebody's house, he would take it as an opportunity to recce the compound.
He uses the car till he gets bored; then he gives it to his friends. Illustration/Ravi Jadhav
How he did it
Sometimes, it was as easy as peeking into the security cabin and picking up any car keys that were left there. Other times, he would use his knowledge of automobiles from the family business to break the handle locks on bikes and steal them. He would use these vehicles till he got bored of them, and then he would hand them over to his friends - for a price. Soon, he would be on the hunt for a new ride. Several times, he would steal a bike, only to abandon it on the roadside when he spotted a police nakabandi.
Catching Patel
"He has worked as a delivery boy at different food outlets over the past year. On January 30, he stole a KTM bike from the Royal Palms area in Aarey Colony, when he went to deliver a pizza. In February, he also stole a bag belonging to a courier boy who was delivering packages in the same building. Both incidents were captured on CCTV, and with the help of footage, we traced the accused on Monday," said API Sunil Lokhande from Aarey police station.
Faizan Afzal Patel
The police then found the KTM bike in Anushakti Nagar in Trombay. During interrogations, Patel revealed that he had also stolen a Hyundai Accent car and a Bajaj Discover bike from two different places in the jurisdiction of the Bangur Nagar police.
The car was stolen from a residential society where the owner had left the key in the watchman's cabin. When Patel saw that the cabin was unattended, he took the key and fled with the car.
"In December, the car was found in Evershine Nagar, behind Hypercity mall, in a very bad condition. The bike was stolen from Croma in Malad, and was found in the Royal Palms area in Aarey Colony," said API S Kole of Bangur Nagar police station.
"We have taken Patel's custody from the Aarey police and have solved two cases," the API added. Patel was produced in Borivli court and remanded to judicial custody.
