4 arrested from Guj for Rs 1.4 cr burglary at APMC

The crime branch of Navi Mumbai Police arrested four people from Gujarat and solved the burglary that took place last month at a courier office in the grains market at the APMC in Navi Mumbai. The police also recovered Rs 1.25 crore from the accused who had made a duplicate key to the office and decamped with Rs 1.4 crore cash after it was shut in the evening.

The arrested accused have been identified as Shambhu

Ahir, 25, and Bhupendrasingh Hathisingh Jadeja, 27 (both from Kutch) and Kiritsingh Sartanji Vaghela, 24, and Rajendrasingh Balwantsingh Vaghela, 24 (both from Patan in Gujarat).

According to the police, the accused used the duplicate key to gain access to the courier office between 6.00 pm on March 31 and 11.00 am on April 1. They decamped with the case and also took the hard disk containing CCTV footage with them. As per the FIR registered, there were only two persons – a manager and a helper – working at the office. The manager Vanraj Solanki, 29, had received the cash from the company owner on the morning of March 29 and kept it in the safe. He had checked the safe before leaving on the evening of March 31 and had the only key to the office. When Solanki returned on April 1 the cash was missing and accordingly he informed his senior manager and the owner of the company. As per the FIR, the company was reportedly delivering cash for a commission.

The police said that based on CCTV footage from the area and technical analysis they managed to obtain the mobile number of one of the accused. Two teams were formed and sent to Gujarat to trace them. “The team spent six days collecting details through CCTV footage and the next four days gathering mobile numbers of the three accused,” said Police Commissioner Bipin Kumar Singh. Later, a team was sent to Gujarat where the accused were arrested and the cash was recovered.