More than five months after he broke into a wine shop and decamped with stolen booty including cash and precious stones worth more than Rs.56 lakh, the 38-year-old serial burglar finally landed into the custody of the Nalasopara police. The accused who has been identified as-Ramniwas Manju Gupta turned out to be an inter-state serial offender with more than 50 house break-ins committed by him in Thane, Palghar and Gujarat. According to the police, the accused had allegedly broken into Gymkhana Wine Shop in Nallasopara on 7, December 2023.
On the virtue of the footage captured by closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras and going through the modus operandi used by such offenders, the crime detection team under the supervision of senior police inspector-Vijaysingh Baagal not only managed to ascertain the identity of the accused but also traced his tenement in the Khadegolavali area of Kalyan east. However, the accused had already fled the spot.
Evidences recovered by police
The police recovered a shirt which the accused had allegedly worn while committing the theft at the wine shop in Nallasopara. After remaining underground for some time, the accused managed to procure a pre-arrest bail from the court as his lawyer contended that his identity and involvement in the crime could not be established with the recovery of the shirt as similar ones were available in the market which anybody could purchase. Despite objections raised by the police, bail was granted. Meanwhile the accused was arrested by the J.P Road police in Vadodara (Gujarat) for committing a theft at a mobile store in their jurisdiction.
However, he escaped police custody when being escorted to Thane for the recovery of the stolen booty. He was later arrested by the Kolsewadi police in Thane. After his arrest the Nallasopara police got his pre-arrest bail cancelled and secured his custody. “After interrogations, our team managed to recover stolen booty worth more than Rs.25.08 lakhs including gold ornaments and bars weighing around 496 grams on the virtue of information given by the accused who has been remanded to 14-days police custody by the court. Efforts were on to recover the remaining stolen material and ascertain if he was aided by any accomplices in the crimes.” said DCP (Zone III)-Jayant Bajbale. Further investigations were on.
