GRP arrests history-sheeter, recovers gold ornaments worth `4.8L

A history-sheeter with three cases of railway theft was arrested by the local crime branch (LCB) of the Government Railway Police (GRP). The police also recovered gold ornaments amounting to Rs 4,80,000 from him during the investigation.

According to the GRP, in the most recent theft by the accused, the complainant along with his relatives, boarded the Konkan Kanya Express train from Dadar around 11.30 pm on August 27. Around 12.30 am, the wife of the complainant realised that someone had stolen a box from her bag, containing jewellery which amounted to almost Rs 4,70,000.

The complainant then approached the GRP at Thane railway station about the theft. A team was deployed to scrutinise the CCTV footage at Dadar, Thane and Panvel railway stations, which had the possibility of spotting the accused after he committed the crime.

While watching the footage, one of the officers spotted a suspicious man who already had previous criminal records and was wanted by the police. The accused in this case was the same man who was caught on the CCTV footage. “He had been stealing valuables of commuters travelling by inter-city trains. Through the footage and human intelligence, we were able to track the accused to his home town in Pandharpur. We sent a team there and arrested him,” said police inspector (LCB, GRP) Arshuddin Shaikh.

The accused has been identified as Dattu Pawar, 39. After questioning, Pawar admitted to his crimes. Gold items along with two mobile phones were seized from him, added the police. Pawar has been booked under section 379 (punishment for theft) of the Indian Penal Code.