The Koparkhairane police have arrested a man who broke into 12 medical and general stores in two days and made away with ₹9 lakh in cash. The accused, Mahendra Avinash Patil (24), a resident of Sector 19, Koparkhairane, was arrested on Monday evening.
Mr. Patil is a history-sheeter, who was released from jail in 2016. According to the police, he only targeted medical and general stores as he was aware that during the lockdown, only those shops were operational and they would have cash in the counter.
The first shop he broke into was a medical store in Sector 3, Ghansoli, in the intervening night of April 11 and 12. The shop owner filed a police complaint on April 13. Two more medical and one general stores were burgled in the intervening night of April 12 and April 13 at Ghansoli village.
On the same night, five general stores in Sectors 12, 7, 13 and 20, and two medical stores and one marketing office in Sector 12, all in Kharghar, were broken into. Of the ₹8.8 lakh looted during the break-ins in Kharghar, ₹7.5 lakh was stolen from one general store, Apna Bazar. A case was registered with the Kharghar police on April 13.
“We have recovered ₹81,000 from the accused. The remaining money is with his accomplice, who is absconding. Mr. Patil was traced with the help of technical evidence and informants. He was produced before court on Tuesday, and has been remanded in police custody till Thursday,” senior police inspector Suryakant Jagdale from Koparkhairane police station said.