Navi Mumbai man held for stealing police probe equipment, deleting data from it

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An 22-year-old Navi Mumbai man was arrested on Thursday in Maharashtra's Navi Mumbai township for allegedly stealing a police kit used in crime investigation and deleting data from it, an official said, reported news agency PTI.

The police had detained the accused and a juvenile on May 17 in another case after they fought on a road, Koparkhairne police station's senior inspector Audhumbar Patil said, reported PTI.

During their questioning at an interrogation room in the police station, the Navi Mumbai man allegedly stole the "yatharta kit" (used during probe into a crime) and fled. He later deleted all data from the probe kit, the official said, reported PTI.

The entire data of the collection of evidence pertaining to crimes was lost, he said.

The man was arrested on Thursday in Koparkhairne area and booked under Indian Penal Code sections 380 (theft) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), the official said, reported PTI.

The accused is a habitual offender involved in house-breaking thefts, the police added.

In another case, police have arrested a man and detained two girls for allegedly killing a 52-year-old Mauritian national on a hill in Navi Mumbai's Belapur area, an official said on Wednesday, reported PTI.

The victim, whom the accused had befriended, had been staying in Belapur with his son since the past few months and was in search of a job, he said, reported PTI.

"On May 18, the body of an unidentified man was found on the Parsik hill in Belapur. After that, the police registered a case of murder and launched a probe. The police also circulated the picture of the victim over social media, following which his identity was established," senior inspector Giridhar Gore of the CBD police station said, reported PTI.

"The victim was identified as Navikumar Gurudatta Babu, a Mauritian national. As per the investigation, he came to India eight months back and while he was hunting for a job in a hotel, he met the three accused persons and befriended them," he said, reported PTI.

The victim earlier worked as a manager with a renowned hotel in Mauritius, the official said.

During the probe, the police received a tip-off that the accused was seen with another man and two girls in the locality on the day of his murder, he said.

"The police then detained a man, identified as Sayyed Mustakin Khan. During his interrogation, the police got the information that the victim had gone to Parsik Hill in Belapur along with Khan and the two girls on May 17 and all of them consumed liquor together, which they frequently did," the police official said, reported PTI.

During the probe, the police found that the victim teased one of the girls, following which there was an altercation between the victim and three others, who smashed the victim to death and fled the scene, he said, reported PTI.

The police recovered two blood-stained scarves of the girls from the spot, which indicated the involvement of the two girls, he said, reported PTI.

A local court has remanded Khan in police custody till May 23, while the two girls have been sent to the remand home.

(With inputs from PTI)