Rickshaw driver’s red shoe lands thieves in cop net

Driver’s shoe seen in hazy CCTV footage was a big breakthrough

The red-coloured shoes worn by an an auto-rickshaw driver proved to be the undoing of two miscreants who were nabbed by the Local Crime Branch unit of the Thane (rural) police for robbing a 70year-old woman by posing as courier boys in Kashimira on July 23.

Pushpa Shukla, 70, was alone in her sixth floor apartment in Gaurav Valley when two men rang the doorbell posing as courier boys. When the unsuspecting woman opened the door, the duo barged into the house and decamped with cash and valuables worth nearly Rs.3.35 lakh. Sensing the gravity of the crime, Addl. SP- Prashant Kadam deputed the LCB team led by SPI Vyenkat Andhale and API Pramod Badhakh to nab the criminals.

During investigation, it emerged the duo had hired an autorickshaw to flee the crime scene. Since the images captured by the CCTV were hazy, the auto’s number plate was not visible. However, the driver was seen wearing red shoes.

Armed with this single clue, police tracked the auto driver, who though innocent, revealed he had dropped the duo at Mira Road railway station. “This was an important breakthrough which helped us ascertain where the duo had alighted - Dahisar. Our informer network was activated, which led to the arrest of the duo - Avinash Shukla, 26, and Dipesh Atke, 19. Stolen booty worth Rs. 2.67 lakh was also recovered,” said Kadam, while sounding a word of caution to the public against opening doors to strangers. Investigations were underway to ascertain the duo’s involvement in other cases and an inside hand in this particular crime.

A case under sections 392 and 452 of the IPC has been registered against the duo who have been remanded to police custody till August 1.