Two held for robbing elderly couple

Two men were arrested by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch Monday for robbing an elderly couple in Andheri last month. The main accused had worked as a caretaker for the couple before hatching the plan to rob them, police said. According to police, on January 17, Gita (69) and Kirit Bhatt (75) were locked in a room in their home in an Andheri east society after three men barged into their home. The accused, police said, threatened to kill the couple if they raised an alarm and did not co-operate. The men, police said, also threatened and confined a maid who had come to work at the couple’s home. The thieves, police said, stole cash and gold jewellery valued at Rs 7.25 lakh from the home before fleeing. After the thieves had left, the couple alerted the police.

They suspected the involvement of Sikandar Sharma (32), who worked as a caretaker for the ailing Kirit Bhatt and had stopped coming to work since the theft. After tracking Sharma for close to a month, a team of officials from Unit 10 of the Crime Branch found him in his native place in Bihar and brought him to Mumbai. A senior crime official added that Sharma’s accomplice, Dhirendra Pathak (35) was arrested in Vasai. The police are on the lookout for a third man and are attempting to recover the stolen property.