Robberies amid the lockdown leave citizens living in fear

█ Coronavirus doesn’t deter these criminals

Various robbers spotted across Hadapsar, Kondhwa, Undri, Wanawadi and Mohammadwadi in the last 15 days, targeting locked flats, while cops remain busy with pandemic duties; residents form WhatsApp groups for awareness, chase thieves themselves

In an alarming trend amid the COVID-19 lockdown, a spate of robberies has been reported across the city, leading to hapless citizens living in fear, as police have cited being thinly stretched out. From May 1 to 28, at least 11 house break-ins, six thefts and 16 vehicle thefts have been reported across Pune city.

In one such instance, high drama took place in the Mohammadwadi area in the wee hours of Sunday, after some youths spotted a three-member gang of burglars roaming around the locality attempting to rob homes. The residents and cops followed the trio for over an hour on their vehicles, but they managed to escape. Similarly, in Undri, burglars were spotted attempting to break into locked houses in closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) footage of various societies; over in Fatima Nagar, residents of Neelay Apartments witnessed an ongoing burglary in the wee hours of Friday, and claimed the thieves had highly sophisticated looting equipment with them.

In this way, multiple such incidents by various gangs have been reported in Hadapsar, Kondhwa, Undri, Wanawadi and Mohammadwadi in the last 15 days, leaving residents in constant fear.


House break-ins, vehicle thefts and other theft attempts have been noted, and the thieves are suspected to be habitual offenders, bailed out from jail recently. Amid the lockdown, cops remain busy in bandobast and other duties, while several flats are also empty, spurring the antisocial elements into action.

For residents of Neelay Apartments in Fatima Nagar, it was a shock to see burglars in action, around 2.30 am on May 29. Police reached the spot much after the burglars had already escaped. Resident Vaibhav Bhaindarkar narrated, “I woke up when I heard a few pet dogs in the building barking a lot. From my window, I spotted four masked burglars on two bikes. They jumped over our locked gate and expertly turned over the passage tubelight. My ground floor neighbour saw them quietly through her grill door, using some very sharp equipment to rapidly break the latch of closed flat.” He said neither of them called out to the watchman, fearing the gang would harm him. Bhaindarkar added that while he called the police control room around 2.30 am, cops reached in 20 minutes, while the robbers left within five-odd minutes. The owner of the broken-into flat said he had no cash or jewellery there at the time.

Nearby, in Undri, residents are already living in fear of robberies, as many of them have no security guards at present. To tackle this, social activist Raju Bhintade has also formed a WhatsApp group and is liaising with cops and 20 local youths. “We are creating awareness and giving people safety tips. We have given our contact numbers to societies to call at any time. It is not possible for cops to look into every issue. We are trying to help them. There are some 150 housing societies in the area. Due to the outbreak, many people have left for their native places and their flats are shut. We see that burglars target these homes at night. We even found some CCTV footage in which three youths were seen roaming around on a bike with a bag. Two days ago, they attempted to enter a society, but a pet dog made a huge racket, and they fled. We keep informing people on our group to share such suspicious movements if they come across them.”


Similarly, in Mohammadwadi, a laptop and mobile shop, besides a few houses, were broken into by a trio. Two motorcycles and three fourwheelers were also stolen in the last 15 days. Hanumant Ghule, who was part of the group that chased burglars on Saturday night, shared, “They attempted to break into at least three houses. We informed cops when we saw them roaming around on two motorcycles. We followed them between 2.30 am and 4 am from Mohammadwadi to Nyati Estate, Delhi Public School and Handewadi, but they escaped by speeding up. We were unable to trace them. We have filed complaints many times, but cops are also facing issues, and said they have no vehicles for night patrols.”

The situation is similar in Hadapsar. Sachin Inchure reported a robbery at his cousin’s house in the area, saying, “My brother Sudhar Bagdure was not at home at the time. CCTV footage from the building shows three men entering the society, breaking into the flat and looting gold and silver jewellery.”

Lalit Borde, a denizen of Sasanenager here, is out of Pune due to the lockdown. Unidentified men broke open the lock of his house between May 20 and 29, before stealing gold ornaments worth Rs 60,000-70,000. His sister, Vaishali Choudhari, has filed a complaint with Hadapsar police in this regard.

Charan Kadam, who also lives in Hadapsar, narrated, “I had gone to our native place with my family. When I came back, I found the flat’s lock broken. Someone had entered the house and I found gold and silver jewellery stolen from the wardrobe. When I checked CCTV footage at a nearby chowk, a youth was seen. I noticed the number of his bike and found that he stays in our area. We gave this information to the police and they made enquiries, but took no action. He is a notorious criminal and has a record of such robberies.”

Now, Hadapsar police have registered three cases under sections 454 (lurking house-trespass or house break-in in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment), 457 (lurking house-trespass or house break-in by night) and 380 (theft in dwelling house, etc.) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against unidentified persons.

Addressing the overall trend, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) for Zone V, Suhas Bawche, said, “On Friday, we nabbed a notorious criminal committing a robbery red-handed. We are interrogating him and have been working on the criminal’s tip-offs. We have increased night patrolling in all areas where such incidents were reported. Our officers are dealing with multiple issues, including the pandemic, labourers’ problems and bandobast at containment zones. This is a challenging situation for cops, but we have deployed teams and they have been working on the robberies.”