From day to night, how change in pattern led Mumbai cops to crack Ashok Towers’ robberies
It was a robbery at the house of a renowned Bollywood fashion photographer that led the Bhoiwada police to their suspect.
3 min read
The car was taken off the bridge using a crane and aws later towed to Worli police station along with the businessman. (Express File Photo)Four robberies in seven months. Between 2016 and 2017, a posh residential complex in Mumbai’s Parel witnessed a spate of robberies that saw the Bhoiwada police scrambling to trace the suspect. That was until the robber targeted the house of a renowned Bollywood fashion photographer, and a break in his pattern led the police to crack the case.
The first theft in a building in the Ashok Towers complex was reported in July 2016. Subsequently, people staying in apartments on the 5th, 15th and 20th floors of the same building reported robberies. Though the complex was heavily guarded and had over 170 CCTV cameras, the police failed to trace the accused.
“Due to high security checks and CCTV cameras, we knew that it was impossible for anyone from outside to enter the building, commit a robbery, and escape. Also, there were no signs of suspects when we checked the CCTV footage for months. So, we realized that it was someone within who was committing the crime, and we suspected that the culprit was working in an apartment there,” an officer said.
Then, in February 2017, the photographer’s house on the eighth floor was robbed after sunset, giving the police a valuable clue. “The first three thefts took place during the daytime while the valuables from the photographer’s house were stolen after 7 pm,” a police officer recalled. “So, we started focusing on people working and staying late in the building,” he added.
Alerting their informers and looking for people working inside the residential building late at night, the police zeroed in on Bharat Suthar, a carpenter who had been working in an apartment in the building for nearly a year.
Suthar, who was 28 years old at the time, allegedly confessed to stealing cash and valuables worth at least Rs 55 lakh from four houses, following which he was arrested. He allegedly also revealed that he had tried to enter two other houses in the same building through their bathroom windows.
“He had been working in the sixth-floor apartment of the residential building since May 2016. He noticed that there were a large number of CCTV cameras installed in the building, and the security guards also checked people thoroughly before allowing anyone to enter or leave the building,” the officer said.
Suthar, who had become familiar with the building and the security protocol, realised that he could enter other houses in the same wing through the bathroom window and steal, the police said. He allegedly hid the stolen items in his undergarments before leaving the premises, the police added.
In his confession, Suthar allegedly said that he would leave the apartment by saying he was going to answer nature’s call and then sneak into other residents’ houses through the bathroom window by climbing the pipe.
“He stole valuables from houses on the 5th, 8th, 15th and 20th floors. He made two other attempts in the same building but could not enter the houses because the residents were at home,” an investigator revealed.
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