Sena volunteer steals gold ring worth R36,000; police catch him as CCTV grab matches person featured on a political banner
Sena volunteer steals gold ring worth R36,000; police catch him as CCTV grab matches person featured on a political banner
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Self-proclaimed politicians should not put up promotional posters around town and go about stealing jewellery while they are on public display because of the obvious hazard that poses of being recognised and caught.
That's the lesson Deepak Ramgopal Bhaise, a volunteer for the Shiv Sena's Shikshak Kamgar Sena, learnt when cops caught him for stealing a high-value ring from a jewellery store in Tilak Nagar after they realised that the CCTV footage of the theft and the poster he had put up in Shivaji Nagar featured the same person him.
Kesrilal Jain, owner of Kamal Jewellery, shows the CCTV camera installed in his shop
On December 30, 2010, Kesrilal Jain, owner of Kamal Jewellery approached the area's police after a gold ring, valued at Rs 36,000 went missing from his store. The jeweller told investigators that the robbery took place when his shop was unattended for about 10 minutes the same afternoon.
Jain then provided the police with a CCTV footage in which an unidentified person was seen stealing the ring. However the footage was of little use as the thief did not figure in police records.
Over the following two weeks, a team, headed by ACP (Chembur division) Keshav Shinde, studied the CCTV grab but made no headway.
Poster boy
On January 14, Shinde was doing his routine rounds near Shivaji Nagar in Govandi and noticed a political banner alongside a road. The face, staring innocently at him from the poster, looked familiar. It belonged to the man the officer had seen on the video grab from the jewellery store.
Shinde ran a background check on the person. He learnt that his name was Deepak Ramgopal Bhaise (21), a member of the Shikshak Kamgar Sena, a wing of the Shiv Sena. A police team was immediately sent to summon him for questioning.
Bhaise broke down and confessed to his crime. He also told investigators that he had sold the ring to another politician.
Both the politicians are now cooling their heels behind bars. "When we questioned him, Bhaise confessed to the crime and told the police that he had sold the ring to a local politician," said Inspector vilas Shinde of the Tilak Nagar police.
1) Deepak Bhaise enters the jewellery store when the staff goes for a break. He sizes up the booty and decides to go for the rings
2) He opens the glass display and scouts for an expensive ring
3) He fumbles through the collection and flicks a gold ring
The Other Side
Shiv Sena leader Milind Bhosle disowned Bhaise and denied that the party had anything to do with him.
"He was a volunteer of the Shikshak Kamgar Sena and put up the banner himself to show that he had close ties with Aditya Thackeray and other party leaders. He has nothing to do with the Sena." To avoid further embarrassment, local politicians pulled down the poster as soon as they learnt about Bhaise's arrest.