Three nabbed for theft in Santacruz telecom store

The Santacruz police has arrested three persons, two employees of a leading telecom company and their friend, a delivery boy, for allegedly breaking into the gallery of the telecom service provider on October 14 and decamping with cash. The accused have been sent to police custody till November 8.

The incident took place late night on October 14, hours after the store was shut down by the store manager. The accused trio, identified as Adnan Shaikh (21), Gulam Shaikh (24) and Aftab Shaikh (22), had broken into the store in a masked avatar by opening the locks of the main entrance door and decamped with cash worth `1.04 lakh, stored in the cash drawer. The incident came to light on October 15 when the store manager saw the shutters were opened and so was the main entrance door. Upon checking the cash drawer, he was shocked to see it empty. The manager, Karan Lal, immediately approached Santacruz police and registered a case of housebreaking.

Police said the entire incident was captured in the CCTV footage installed outside the telecom company’s gallery. A police officer said they initially found it difficult to identify the culprits, but the fact the locks were opened and not broken narrowed down the web of suspects. SI Yogesh Pawar said, “Since not many persons had the access to the shutter and door keys, we questioned the persons of interest and Adnan Shaikh, working in the company for past eight months, stood out suspicious. Over a fortnight after probe, he revealed the names of two friends-cum-theft partners.”

The three Shaikhs distributed the booty equally among themselves and decided to buy a car. Soon, the accused trio paid an installment of `43,000 for the second-hand car from Andheri.