The constable, carrying the bag that had a rifle and 60 bullets, had accompanied an under-trial to JJ hospital where the theft took place
Accused Asfaq Sayyed was captured in the hospital's CCTV footage stealing the bag
A 45-year-old man was arrested by JJ Marg police last week for stealing a bag containing 60 live rounds of bullets that belonged to Local Arms Unit I of the Mumbai Police. The team had visited JJ hospital for the medical examination of an under-trial lodged in Arthur Road jail when the incident took place.
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At around 9 am, three constables attached with Local Arms-1 took a prisoner to JJ hospital. "He has an injury on his leg and was thus asked by the jail doctor to be examined at JJ hospital. One of the cops escorting him had a rifle and 60 live rounds of 7.65 mm bullets in his bag," an officer said.
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While constable Santosh Gade was monitoring the under-trial, he had kept his bag nearby but the accused, Asfaq Sayyed, managed to steal it and escape. When Gade realised that the bag was missing, a search was undertaken but that didn't help. Finally, an FIR was lodged at the JJ Marg police station against an unknown person.
Accused Asfaq Sayyed
Since the bag contained arms, a four-member team was immediately formed under sub-inspector Rajendra Ghavdekar. On scanning the hospital's CCTV footage, the suspect was seen heading towards Dongri with the bag.
The police then apprehended 40 people looking like the suspect, and visited Dongri, Masjid station, Wadi Bandar and then P D'mello road areas. That is when a local police informer told them that one Sayyad was going around telling people that he had won a lottery worth R30 to 35 lakh. He was soon found and arrested. Sayyed, a resident of Dongri, is not a habitual offender as there are no cases against him on their record, the police said.
"He revealed that he had stolen the bag randomly and was not aware that it belonged to the police or contains arms," said Ghavdekar, adding that upon finding the bullets, Sayyed got scared and hid the bag inside a café in Dongri. "We recovered the bag from the cafe around 1:30 pm," he said. Sayyed, the police said, indulges in petty thefts in crowded places, and uses that money to buy drugs.
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