Pune burglar named in 64 cases held; 49 keys seized along with gold, silver worth Rs 17 lakh

“So far, we have recovered 236.53 grams of gold jewellery, 212 grams of silver ornaments, and other valuables from the accused. Further investigation is on. It is being probed whether he committed more thefts and there is a possibility that more gold would be seized from him,” Sandip Singh Gill, Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone 1), told reporters on Thursday.

Gill said the police have confirmed his involvement in 13 new theft cases.

Apart from the ornaments, the police also seized 49 keys, suspected to be used in thefts, from Pawar, said senior police inspector Chandrashekhar Sawant.

A school dropout, Pawar has been on police crime records since 2008. The police said that every time he was released on bail, Pawar continued to commit thefts under Pune city and Pimpri Chinchwad police jurisdictions.

“Also, on seeing a CCTV camera, he used to walk through the area by holding his cell phone to his ears, pretending to be speaking to someone so that the investigators probing the CCTV footage would not get suspicious of him,” said an officer.

Pawar was arrested a few years ago for committing 51 crimes, mainly house break-in thefts, but was released on bail in November 2023, the police said.

Investigators said Pawar did a recce of the houses he chose to commit thefts. Then, he burgled the spots during the daytime.

“The accused was selling the stolen gold and silver jewellery with the help of his aide Nilkanth Raut, who is yet to be arrested,” said sub-inspector Ajit Bade.

The police received inputs about Pawar following the arrest of an accused, Shubham Giri, at Shivajinagar railway station earlier this week in connection with a robbery case, the statement said.

A team led by Bade of Shivajinagar police station arrested Pawar from the Mhasoba gate bus stop on February 4.