A two-month-long cat-and-mouse game between a serial thief and the Sewri police came to an end earlier this month after the arrest of the thief who kept taunting the police by feeding them false information through his friend. The accused, along with his accomplice, are said to have been behind a string of thefts in Mumbai, Thane and Palghar.
According to the Sewri police, the accused first came under the scanner after they stole a laptop and other gadgets belonging to Sewri resident Javed Mumin from his car, which was parked near his godown on April 20 this year. On analysing closed circuit television camera footage, the police zeroed in on the two accused and began to get information about their identities and whereabouts. One of the accused, Sonu Kumar (27), however, proved to be more than a match for the investigating team.
Investigating officers said they were seeking help from one of Mr. Kumar's friends in order to track him down. Unknown to the police, Mr. Kumar was already aware that they were on his trail, and kept feeding false information to them. “He used to keep telling his friend that he was at a particular location but by the time our team reached the spot, he would be gone. He also did not stay in one place for a long time and kept changing phone numbers, which made it harder to track his movements through technical analysis,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Port Zone) Dr. Rashmi Karandikar said.
Mr. Kumar was arrested from Lower Parel on June 4 due to a combination of human intelligence and technical investigation. His interrogation revealed the identity of his accomplice, Sunil Rajput, who was also arrested from Kurla on June 8. The police said that together, the accused have stolen 13 laptops from parked cars as well as a motorcycle over 15 years. They were planning to rob three jewellery stores in Vapi when they were picked up.
“Mr. Kumar was the leader, and very resourceful. He used to watch videos of police press conferences on the internet so he could understand our method and make sure he did not fall prey to them,” Dr. Karandikar said.
The police have charged both the accused for theft under the Indian Penal Code and have recovered stolen goods worth ₹8 lakh from them so far, including Mr. Mumin’s laptop.
Investigations have revealed that Mr. Kumar has cases registered against him with the Byculla, Azad Maidan, MRA Marg and V.P. Road police stations in Mumbai, the Vartak Nagar police station in Thane and the Manikpur police station in Palghar, an officer said.
