Mumbai: Thieves leave behind clue that gets them caught

Accused Dashrat (front) and Akash Pawar

While fooling a cop before stealing nearly Rs 1 lakh from an ayurvedic medicine store, the thief didn't realise that he left a clue. Within hours, the cops traced him and his accomplice.

Duplicate key
According to police, the accused have been identified as Dashrat Pawar, 21, and his friend Akash Pawar, 26. Dashrat had made a duplicate key of the Colaba store's shutter. While he had decided to carry out the theft, as he was a helper and knew where the cash was, Akash was to help him if anything went wrong.

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On Sunday night, when Dashrat opened the store, a cop patrolling in the area spotted him. When the officer questioned him, he said his boss had asked him to sleep inside, as the CCTV was not working. Not believing him, the cop asked him to call up his boss. Thereafter, Dashrat gave him Akash's number, which the cop dialed from his own cell phone. Posing as the store's area manager, Akash told him that he had asked Dashrat to sleep in the shop.

The only clue
The following morning, when the manager saw Rs 99,550 had been stolen from his store, he filed a complaint with the Colaba police. During investigation, the cops got to know that one of their officers had talked to the store manager on the night of the incident. They then traced the number to Panvel from where both the accused were arrested. An officer said, "The duo has been booked under relevant sections of IPC. After being produced in court on Tuesday, they were sent to police custody till July 28."

Manojkumar Sharma, DCP, zone I, said, "The number helped us trace the accused and arrest them."