Inter-state thief held for selling ‘rented’ cameras on e-portals

In less than a fortnight after he duped a Vasai-based businessman engaged in the business of renting out cameras in Vasai, the accused landed into the custody of the Manekpur police on Saturday.

The accused who have been identified as- Siddesh Sunil Mahale turned out to be a habitual offender interstate offender involved in a spate of similar crimes in Mumbai, Thane, Navi-Mumbai Nagpur, Pune, Baramati, Surat (Gujarat), Delhi, Goa and Raipur.

In his complaint to the police, the 28-year-old businessman had stated that he had placed an advertisement on a popular search engine offering a range of high definition Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras on a rental basis. Soon, he got a call from a person who identified himself as

Yogesh. The complainant agreed to the rental deal, however, the accused fled with the DSLR camera and lens worth more than Rs.3.15 lakh.

Based on technical surveillance, the crime detection unit laid a trap and apprehended the accused from Mumbai. After rounds of sustained interrogation, the accused admitted to the crimes.

The police have recovered several high-end DSLR’s and lens worth more than Rs. 25 lakh from the possession of the accused who has been booked under section 406 and 420 of the IPC. Thanks to the lack of a proper verification process, online search engines and ecommerce merchant websites continue to be valuable assets for fraudsters to source out business details and contact information in context to their potential targets.