Posing as medical attendants, two men gain access to homes of senior citizens, flee with valuables

Police said the complainant in the case, a resident of West Patel Nagar, said on October 9, they hired one Ankit as a medical attendant for their 85-year-old father-in-law. “On October 11, her mother-in-law was shocked to find that Ankit had stolen jewellery and cash and fled. A case was registered at Patel Nagar police station and Ankit’s phone was found switched off,” said Special CP (Crime) Ravindra Yadav.

Police managed to find the shop where the suspect got the SIM card, and found he used a fake ID.

While analysing CCTV footage from outside the complainant’s house, police found the accused was not operating alone. There were two men, one wearing a mask, seen approaching the complainant’s home — while the masked man went in, the second stayed out and kept watch.

“Using the footage, we circulated photographs of the accused to secret informers. With the help of technical analysis and information collected from manual inputs, the two men were identified and arrested,” Yadav said.

During questioning, Rinku said he found his targets by scouring JustDial — all he had to do was look for people wanting medical assistance for their old-aged parents or ailing family members. “The accused further disclosed that they had disguised themselves and always wore a mask during their services with these families — they cited medical reasons and safety of patients but the actual reason was to conceal their identity,” Yadav said.

Police said they recovered the stolen jewellery and cash at their instance; Rinku had also deposited some of the stolen cash in his bank account.

Police said Rinku, who studied up to Class VIII, worked as a labourer, laying tiles. He had also worked with a doctor. Later he got in touch with his cousin, who used to steal from people in a similar fashion. He joined Hemant in committing thefts; after Hemant was arrested, he went solo till Pramod, who used to run a dhaba, joined him.