Two held for stealing valuables from Shilpa Shetty’s bungalow

Thieves, repeat offenders, used screwdriver to gain access via sliding window on 1st floor

The Juhu police have arrested two thieves who entered actress Shilpa Shetty’s seaside residence through a sliding window on the first floor and made off with valuables on June 6. The cops are awaiting a statement from Shetty, who is abroad at present, mentioning the details of the missing valuables. The accused—Arjun Suresh Babu Debendram, 26, and Ajay alias Ramesh Debendra, 22—are residents of Kartik chawl at Nehru Nagar in Vile Parle East.

Arjun has been named in 12 cases of housebreaking and mobile theft across the city while Ajay is involved in three cases of the latter offence. The incident occurred at the Kinara bungalow at Mukteshwar Lane on Gandhigram Road. The complainant is Shekhar Choudhari, 30, a housekeeping manager at Shetty’s residence.

Arjun Suresh Babu Debendram; Ajay alias Ramesh Debendra

A police officer said, “On May 24, Shetty left to shoot for a project in a foreign country and the house was locked. On June 6, Choudhari noticed that a first-floor window was open and when he checked CCTV footage, he saw that a man whose face was concealed with a cloth had entered the building at 3.25 am.” The housekeeping manager immediately informed the Juhu police, who registered an FIR.

Senior Inspector Ajit Vartak formed a team comprising API Vijay Dhotre, the investigation officer, and Constables Amit Mahangade, Nitin Mandekar, Suhas Bhosale, Prakash Tasgaonkar, Tadvi and Bankar to nab the accused. The team examined footage from around 60-70 CCTV cameras in the area and eventually traced and arrested the accused on Thursday.

“The entire house, including the master bedroom, hall, dining room and the couple’s daughter’s bedroom, had been messed up. The accused had opened the window with the help of a screwdriver,” a police officer said. Another officer said, “We have arrested the accused with the help of CCTV cameras but we are waiting for Shetty’s statement about missing valuables. Both the accused have criminal records and they have been involved in more than 13 cases.” A representative of the actress told mid-day that the actress was unavailable for comment as she is not in the country.

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