Taking advantage of the pandemic induced lockdown, three persons looted a school in Malad (E) and decamped with over 12 personal computers and CPU from a municipal school. When the school management noticed the missing computer monitors on December 9, a complaint was lodged with the police. Acting on this complaint, Kurar Police arrested three persons and made a 100 per cent recovery of the items that were stolen.
After the schools were shut amid the pandemic outbreak, online classes were underway to ensure the education of students was not hampered. When the school's management observed that a number of computer monitors were missing from the school property, they approached Kurar Police and lodged a complaint.
Primary probe into the incident revealed that the room where the computers were stored was locked, and the accused person had opened this locked door using a duplicate key. Acting on this information, police began the investigation and enquired with people who had a key, including the security guard, Shekhar Sawant, 38. But Sawant refused to cooperate with police probe and said he had no idea what had happened.
Accordingly, police scrutinised the CCTV camera footage of the neighbouring area and found two people-- a man and a woman, leaving with the computer monitors on three different days. Based on technical investigation, the man in the CCTV footage was identified as Hitesh Solanki, 28, who was arrested from Kurar Village. Further probe and call data records of Solanki's phone revealed that Sawant was an accomplice in the crime and the woman with him was his girlfriend, Ankita Jadhav.
"Solanki and Jadhav worked at an advocate's office and entered into a relationship. The couple often consumed liquor near the municipal school and soon invited Sawant to join them. During this time, they realised that Sawant was a security guard at the school and had a key to the computer laboratory. Accordingly, a plan was hatched and a duplicate key was made, which was used in the crime," said Babasaheb Salunkhe, senior inspector of Kurar police station.
Jadhav and Sawant arrested and booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for house break-in and theft. Police said that Solanki and Jadhav committed this crime to fund for their inebriation. Police also made a 100 per cent recovery of 12 computer monitors and two CPUs along with two duplicate keys.
