Police scanned CCTV footage at the stadium, and questioned several employees. The stolen phones too were put on technical surveillance. (File)Five months after mobile phones of the entire team of the Delhi United Football Club were stolen from their dressing room at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium during the Delhi Football League 2020, police have arrested a former coach of the team for the theft. DCP (South) Atul Kumar Thakur said that the former coach, Shekhar Pathak, allegedly committed the theft to “take revenge for his removal as a coach at the stadium in 2013”.
The incident took place on March 13, when the team had a match as a part of the Delhi Football League 2020. “The Delhi United Football Club was allotted a dressing room with cabins where they had kept their phones, bags and purses. After the match, they returned to find the dressing room ransacked. Apart from 12 phones, Rs 10,000 cash was also gone. A case was registered at the Lodhi Colony police station,” said the DCP.
Police scanned CCTV footage at the stadium, and questioned several employees. The stolen phones too were put on technical surveillance. “Recently, one of the phones was switched on and its location was immediately tracked. The person using the phone said that Pathak had sold it to him,” said Thakur. Pathak’s house was raided and nine of the 12 stolen phones were recovered.
Police said Pathak had worked as a restaurant manager at hotels such as The Oberoi and The Ashoka. DCP Thakur said Pathak was a district-level football player. “In 2011, he was hired by the stadium, where he worked till 2013, after which he was removed over complaints from another coach about his punctuality and sincerity,” said Thakur.
After he was let go, Pathak started his own academy in Preet Vihar but soon shut it down. He then opened a mobile repair shop. “But he wanted to take revenge even after all these years,” said police.