3 min readMumbaiJun 20, 2025 02:07 AM IST
First published on: Jun 19, 2025 at 08:50 PM IST
On a quiet April morning in 2022, septuagenarian Vilas Mhamunkar and his wife locked their sixth-floor apartment in Borivali (East) and left for Goregaon to visit relatives. They returned just three hours later with a sight of the door lock broken, their home ransacked, and Rs. 22 lakh worth of cash, gold, and silver missing.
What followed was a manhunt led not by facial recognition or eyewitness accounts, but by grainy CCTV footage that captured only the feet and shoes of the accused and their pants.
The burglary took place on April 20, 2022 between 11 am to 2 pm. As per FIR registered on Mhamunkar’s complaint, the burglars broke into his flat at Yashika Apartment on Shri Krishna Nagar Road and made off with valuables including 198 grams of gold, 1.5 kg of silver, and Rs.10,000 in cash. The stolen items ranged from gold necklaces, chains, bangles, rings, and pendants to silver plates, a spoon, religious ornaments, and a silver oil lamp. Some of the gold items were intricately designed, with one chain and pair of earrings weighing 18 grams and a bangle alone valued at Rs. 30,000.
With no clear images or eyewitness leads, officers from Dahisar police station swung into action, relying solely on CCTV footage. Over the next several days, they examined footage from 78 CCTV cameras across Dahisar, Borivali, Mira Road, Kashimira, and Kasarvadavli. The footage, including the visuals from nine private CCTV cameras in the vicinity, showed only the lower part of the body of the two accused that ultimately helped the cops to narrow down their search.
After scanning more footage for some days, the cops spotted the two in Thane on the day of the incident. Thereafter the Dahisar Police showed the footage to Thane and Navi Mumbai Police, after which cops learnt that the accused were habitual offenders with allegedly over 25 burglary and theft cases against them and in the next month, arrested two accused Anant Bhiku Kamble and Dnyaneshwar Baban Bangre, both residents of Panvel.
As per Police, by the time they caught up with the accused, the two had already sold off part of the loot in Chiplun and Panvel. However, officers partially recovered stolen gold and silver worth Rs. 12.53 lakh. The police claimed that the burglars had conducted the recce before targeting the Mhamunkar flat and had deliberately selected the said building as they noticed absence of watchman and security cameras.
The police claimed that the accused also timed the heist for the daytime, knowing that most residents would be away at work and avoided Navi Mumbai, fearing quick identification due to their criminal history there and believed that Mumbai offered relative anonymity. The case is awaiting trial before the magistrate court in suburban Borivali.
As per Dahisar Police, in another case of chain snatching in May, 2022, they had nabbed another accused despite the CCTV footage failing to capture his face. Cops had nabbed him after screening footages of over 35 CCTV cameras based on the colour of his shirt, pants and a pair of worn-out shoes.
With no clear images or eyewitness leads, officers from Dahisar police station swung into action, relying solely on CCTV footage. (File photo) 
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