Mumbai: An autorickshaw driver who allegedly drove off with cellphones worth ₹17 lakh belonging to his passenger, a dealer in mobile phones, was apprehended based on a sticker on the windshield of his vehicle.
Police said Sunilkumar Gupta, 28, was arrested in Bhandup within 20 hours of committing the crime after businessman Sandeep Singh, 33, filed a complaint with them. Mr. Singh was travelling from Powai to Mulund by autorickshaw on Thursday night, when it ran low on fuel. The driver stopped at a petrol pump on LBS Road in Bhandup, but Mr. Singh was unwilling to wait and hailed the autorickshaw being driven by Gupta.
DCP (Zone VII) Sachin Patil said, “Mr Singh placed his bag containing the cell phones in Gupta’s autorickshaw and turned to pay the fare for the auto he was in earlier, when Gupta sped off with the bag. Mr. Singh could not note down the license plate number of Gupta’s auto, but recalled seeing a sticker with Saidham on its windshield when he was at Bhandup police station.”
The police examined CCTV footage from the vicinity of the petrol pump, and identified the autorickshaw by the sticker. After obtaining its registration details, police traced and apprehended Gupta, who had taken the auto on lease.
Mr. Patil said the investigating team has recovered all the stolen cell phones from Gupta, who was planning to sell them. He has been charged with theft under the IPC and remanded in police custody till July 26.
