Mumbai Police on Saturday said that it's crime branch nabbed a man for allegedly stealing belongings of people visiting city mosques for namaz
The suspect in custody of the Mumbai Crime Branch officials on Saturday. Pic/ Mumbai Police sources
Key Highlights
- A man was held for stealing belongings of people visiting city mosques for namaz
- The police said that with his arrest it has solved multiple cases of thefts
- The officials of Mumbai Crime Branch Unit 5 nabbed the 29-year-old accused
Mumbai Police on Saturday said that a man was held for stealing belongings of people visiting city mosques for namaz.
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The police said that with his arrest it has solved multiple cases of thefts at different mosques in the city after arrest of man who was allegedly accused of stealing the belongings of people visiting the city mosques for morning (fajr) namaz (prayers).
According to the police, Mumbai Police had been receiving complaints regarding thefts of belongings of people who had been visiting different Mumbai mosques for morning prayers. After multiple complaints were received by the different police stations in the city in recent times, the theft cases were also being investigated by the Mumbai Crime Branch.
An official said, "During primary investigations, the officials of the Mumbai Crime Branch found that most of the thefts had taken place in the early hours of the day which when fajr namaz usually takes place."
The police said, moreover the pattern of the thefts in most of the cases turned out to similar. The officials began their investigations and zeroed in on a suspect. The officials found that in one of the cases, an Imam of a mosque told the police that just before the fajr namaz, while he was at the mosque, his belongings including his wallet and mobile phone were stolen by an unknown suspect.
The officials further learned that similar cases had taken place including Mumbai, Pune and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and cases under section 380 of the IPC had been registered by different police stations in the country.
"Under the jurisdiction of Dharavi Police alone there were about four instances where thefts had taken place and two cases were registered by the police against an unknown suspect," the official said.
The officials of Mumbai Crime Branch Unit 5 began to gather clues in the matter and by using technical clues including CCTV footage in the vicinity zeroed in on a suspect, a 29-year-old man, the police said.
The man was later picked up by the officials for questioning from the CSMT station area and after sustained questioning the investigators verified his role in the recent theft cases and officially placed him under arrest.
"The suspect was identified and arrested in the matter. The police officials also made a recovery of as many as seven mobile phones which are suspected to stolen from the people. With his arrest the police officials solved five cases of thefts at mosques," the official added.
The accused is a local resident of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. So far, the police officials have found that there were theft at mosque cases were registered against him in police stations including Dharavi, Shahunagar, Dongri Police Stations in the city and a case against him is also registered at Chamanganj Police Station in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Further investigations in the matter are being done, the police said.