Mumbai: Versova Police have arrested a 25-year-old partially handicapped food delivery man for stealing mobile phones and laptops from bachelor pads in city suburbs. Krishna Shiva Gowda kept a close eye on homes rented by bachelors, having observed that they tended to leave the front door open for their flatmate, after returning from night shifts, police said. Over 15 high-end mobile phones and a laptop was recovered from Gowda, which he later sold in markets, at throwaway prices.
Gowda, a native of Karnataka, had moved to Mumbai when he was five. As an adolescent, he began working as a waiter at Udupi hotels in Andheri. After an accident left him with a paralysed right arm, he was moved from waiting tables to delivering food.
In the course of his food delivery job, Gowda learnt that several bachelors lived in MHADA, Andheri (W), sharing rooms with others. A senior police officer said, "Gowda observed that when these youths returned home after night duty, their roommate would have kept the door unlocked to so that they would not have to get up to open the door for their roommate. Using this knowledge, Gowda targeted these men-- struggling actors, youths working at international call centres and aviation professionals, who mostly worked late into the night and returned home at odd hours."
Gowda used to recce the MHADA area, looking for opportunities. There were some youths who returned home while Gowda was scouting around and they found his behaviour suspicious. They had warned other residents about him and kept a close watch on his movements.
On Wednesday, seeing the door of a home unlocked, Gowda snuck in and swiped a high-end mobile from the house and fled. When the complainant woke up, he found his mobile phone missing and immediately called his phone using his roommate's phone, only to be told the phone was switched off. The complainant approached Versova Police and registered a case of theft and told them about Gowda being seen earlier that day in the area.
Police immediately scrutinised the CCTV camera footage and activated their network of informers, to keep an eye on a person who was handicapped. Hours later, Gowda was traced to a restaurant in Andheri, where he was nabbed. He confessed to his crimes and was arrested by police.
A search of Gowda's Goregaon (W) residence yielded 15 mobile phones and one laptop. He revealed during interrogation that he sold the expensive mobile phones to sweepers, cleaners and at mobile utility shops near Andheri railway station at prices as low as Rs 4,000 to Rs 6,000. It was learnt that Gowda was an alcoholic and constantly needed money for his craving.
