The offence in this case was lodged by a 74-year-old resident of a bungalow in Kothrud. (Representational)Four men were arrested on Friday for allegedly robbing an elderly couple at knife point in Kothrud on Thursday. Valuables worth Rs 11.52 lakh were recovered from the accused, Akash Kamble (22), Deepak Sugave (21), Sandeep Hande (25) and Chhagan Jadhav, police said.
The offence in this case was lodged by a 74-year-old resident of a bungalow in Kothrud.
According to police, the complainant lives with his wife while their son is in the US and daughter, who is married, lives in Bavdhan.
In the early hours of December 10 between 1 am and 2.30 am, three men armed with sharp weapons broke into the complainant’s bungalow by cutting the window grills, police said. Threatening the complainant and his wife by pointing sharp weapons at them, the trio looted gold ornaments, $3,000 and Rs 80,000 cash, all to the tune of Rs 11.52 lakh and then fled from the spot.
Upon receiving information, police started investigating and identified the role of accused Sandip Hande in the robbery.
Hande worked as caretaker at the complainant’s house for one-and-a-half months a year ago, police said. Probe revealed that accused Chhagan Jadhav, who is the mastermind of this crime, runs an agency named ‘Ajinkya nursing’ in Chinchwad, which provides caretakers or workers to bungalows and other places, police said. Hande had become a caretaker at the complainant’s residence through Jadhav, police said.
While employed there, Hande collected information about the places where the complainant and his wife kept their ornaments and other valuables, police said. Then Jadhav, Hande and two aides broke into the complainant’s bungalow on Thursday and stole their valuables, police said.
“Hande is a criminal on police record. We suspect that kingpin Jadhav and other accused have committed similar crimes in the past, especially in Pimpri-Chinchwad,” said Additional Commissioner of Police Sanjay Shinde