PUNE: The Mundhwa police on Wednesday arrested a criminal on record, Manoj Parathe (23), for stealing a bag containing cash and a smartphone, totally worth Rs 16,500. The bag was left behind on the footrest of a scooter by mistake by its owner,
Yukti Arvind Sharma, a resident of
Kharadi.
The theft occurred around 11.40am on Monday when Sharma, a software engineer, had parked her vehicle outside a furniture shop at Mundhwa Chowk.
Sharma, who originally hails from Ujjain in
Madhya Pradesh, was on her way to Magarpatta in Hadapsar. She had forgotten to collect her bag while visiting a furniture shop in the area.
Parathe picked up the bag and took to his heels. When Sharma returned to the vehicle, she found the bag missing and, after looking around for it, she registered an FIR with the Mundhwa police station.
Sub-inspector Amol Gawali said, “The CCTV cameras installed on business establishments in the vicinity of the chowk captured images of Parathe while lifting the bag. Investigations revealed that he had fled in the direction of the
Mula-Mutha river. After working on certain clues, a team under senior inspector Anil Patrudkar took Parathe into custody from his hideout. The bag, which contained cash, cellphone, an identity card, and debit and master cards, was recovered intact from him.”
Parathe has been charged for committing an offence of theft under section 379 of the Indian Penal Code. “Parathe has five cases of bag lifting, including four at Mundhwa and one at Airport police station, registered against him since 2014. We are questioning him as we suspect that he could be involved in more such cases,” Gawali added.
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