Gujarat Police arrested a man accused of burgling a bungalow in Vapi's GIDC area and stealing gold and silver jewellery along with cash worth over Rs 32 lakh, arresting him at Dadar in Mumbai on Wednesday, October 28. The Valsad Local Crime Branch recovered stolen property valued at Rs 18.28 lakh from the accused, police said.
Source: Nation Press (IANS)
The break-in took place on the night of October 24 at Bungalow No. A/4, Vraj Co-operative Housing Society, Vraj Row House, on Chharwada Road in Vapi. According to police, the accused cut through an iron window grille and broke a wooden window to enter a first-floor bedroom, allegedly removing about 142.61 grams of gold jewellery and around 900 grams of silver, along with Rs 12 lakh in cash, from a wooden cupboard. The total value of the stolen property was estimated at Rs 32,62,482. A case was registered under Sections 305(a) and 331(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, at Vapi GIDC police station.
Investigators screened footage from more than 200 CCTV cameras along the route from the crime scene to Mumbai. Teams from the Valsad Local Crime Branch, its burglary squad and Vapi GIDC police station examined records of people linked to similar offences and used technical analysis to zero in on a suspect. Acting on a tip-off, a team led by Local Crime Branch Sub-Inspector J.G. Parmar apprehended the accused in Dadar, and he and the recovered property were handed over to Vapi GIDC police for further investigation.
Source: IANS via hi INDiA
Police identified the arrested man as Atish alias Dancer, 38, a labourer living in Virar East in Maharashtra's Palghar district. He allegedly told investigators he travelled by train from Virar to Vapi about two days before the burglary, climbed onto a sheet-metal roof, cut the iron grille with a hacksaw blade and pried open the wooden window with a screwdriver. Police said his method involved surveying a target property two or three days in advance and approaching the rear of a locked house. Police records list 69 cases against him in Gujarat and Maharashtra, including in Umargam and several Mumbai police station areas, spanning 2005 to 2026, covering alleged theft, housebreaking, robbery and cheating. These are allegations and past-case listings as stated by police; the Vapi case is under investigation.
The recovered property, valued at Rs 18,28,780 in total, includes three gold necklaces with earrings weighing 35.95 grams and valued at Rs 4.75 lakh, two gold bangles weighing 32.32 grams valued at Rs 4.26 lakh, a gold chain worth Rs 1.03 lakh, diamond-studded gold earrings valued at Rs 78,000, a five-gram silver coin, Rs 5,48,800 in cash, two mobile phones valued at Rs 10,000, and the screwdriver and hacksaw blade allegedly used in the burglary, police said. Further investigation is being conducted by Vapi GIDC police.