Two masked men stole Rs. 40 lakh on January 8 from the Goregaon (Bombay) residence of producer Santosh Gupta. They were tracked down by the Bangur Nagar police within 48 hours of the crime. A labour contractor, working at the producer’s apartment, was also arrested for allegedly providing information to the thieves on when to strike.
The two robbers were arrested as they inadvertently revealed their identities when they removed their masks after they left the apartment with the booty, which was captured by the surveillance cameras installed.
Santosh Gupta told the police that two men came to his residence while he was away on January 8. They threatened the house help with a ‘pistol’ when he offered them water, and confined him to the kitchen after binding him with a nylon rope. It was later found that the ‘pistol’ was actually a cigarette lighter.
The duo stole cash and jewellery. After getting into the autorickshaw from outside the building at Goregaon, they alighted at Andheri, hailed another autorickshaw and went into a congested locality. The police recovered the stolen Rs. 40 lakh from them.
The accused were identified as Mustakim Shaikh and Devesh Savasia. The arrested contractor, engaged to do carpentry work and who tipped off the robbers, was Sarvesh Sharma.