Several break-in & theft cases cracked, 2 held: Vadodara Police

The two men were arrested in connection with the recent case of January 14, when the accused allegedly committed a theft of Rs 18 lakh, including Rs 4 lakh in cash, from the residence of a businessman in the city. The accused allegedly stayed at a guest house attached to a local temple, in order to execute the crime. However, with the arrest of the accused, a total of four undetected cases of break-ins have now been detected.

Police said the main accused, Prahlad alias Pradeep Dadich (38) has been arrested in a total of 14 cases of burglary so far in Vadodara, Anand and Jodhpur. According to the police, Dadich also “melted the stolen gold and turned it into pure gold bars”, mortgaging the gold in Mumbai while his co-accused Suresh alias Rajveer Sen (36) has been arrested in three cases of burglary in Rajasthan, previously.

Vadodara Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), Himanshu Kumar Verma, said that the accused first conducted recce of the locations and then carried out the thefts. “The accused would arrive in Vadodara and stay in the outskirts. They would then conduct a recce and execute the theft at night… They targeted locked homes and used tools to break open the doors to gain entry; mainly fled with cash and gold. We are investigating the possibility of the involvement of another accused in the case.”

Of the total seizures, the police recovered gold worth Rs 71.46 lakh and silver ornaments worth Rs 1.33 lakh along with cash of Rs 1.3 lakh from the two accused.