Burglars ‘locked’ premises to evade suspicion after every strike

Nagpur: A gang of burglars that stole spares on multiple instances from the administrative wing of Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) would leave the place locked after each foray. The burglars even used a lock identical to the original one, which they had broken to gain access the first time, to avoid suspicion.
The burglars decamped with various materials worth Rs2.24 lakh from the godown in a desolate part of Isolation Hospital premises. The place was seldom visited by GMCH authorities, though there are some residential quarters in the premises. The burglars stole LCD television, DVD player, gas cylinder, inverter, CPU, monitor and other material since August.

The burglars had worked out a unique strategy to avoid being noticed. They broke the lock on the main gate and replaced it with an identical one, which left the security guards feeling secure.

Police said the burglars could not shift all the material in the godowns at once. So, they decided to do it over successive forays, disposing some items to buy contraband substances, to which they were addicted.

Senior PI Ramakant Durge of Imambada police station said the matter was discovered by cops first after receiving information regarding some thieves regularly stealing materials from the place to purchase narcotics. “Police alerted GMCH authorities, who registered a formal complaint. The case was detected within a short period,” he said.

Sub-inspector Vinod Narwade, working under supervision of PI Durge and Zonal DCP Nilesh Bharne, said Raj Mehroliya and Sandeep Jadhav have been taken into custody. “Prima facie, it seems the two engaged in the theft for fast cash to purchase narcotics, but we are still questioning them,” he said.

Police have already recovered the television, cylinder and a monitor following the interrogation of the two persons who may have more in their gang, said Narwade. “The monitor was recovered from a nullah behind the premises of the godown,” he said.

Narwade also said Mehroliya and Jadhav were produced before the court on Friday which remanded them to custody for two days.

More burglaries elsewhere in city

Two fresh burglary cases were registered at different police stations on Thursday. The burglars decamped with substantial valuables from the residences of two families.

In one case, the burglars decamped with valuables worth Rs92,000 from the residence of Shankar Tambe at Gautam Nagar near Bezonbagh. The burglary came to fore when the family returned home on Thursday. They had left home after locking it a day earlier. The case was registered at Jaripatka police station.

In the other incident, burglars managed to flee valuables, worth more than Rs81,500, from the residence of Deshpande family at Manish Nagar on Thursday, when they had gone out. The family approached Beltarodi police station to register an offence.