A 17-year-old boy was detained by Juhu police for allegedly stealing valuable goods amounting to at least Rs 21 lakh from a businessman's house. Cops while probing the case, however found that the boy had found a manhole where he used to stow away whatever he stole from the house. The boy, cops said has been involved in such crimes before.
The Juhu police said a complaint was lodged with them on February 5 about a house break-in. The complainant, identified as one Pooja Devendra of Nehru Nagar said that while she was away from her home to Mahabaleshwar along with her family, someone broke into her house and looted valuables besides ransacking the place, a report in The Indian Express said.
Police reportedly said that the boy broke open a grill on one of the windows of the house and entered the place. He went inside the house, searched for valuables and upon finding gold and silver items, stole them and ran out of the place. Cops said the stolen amount totalled to Rs 21 lakh. The police later on registered a complaint under relevant IPC sections.
The police while probing the case learnt that a boy in the Nehru Nagar area was throwing a party and had ordered alcohol and invited his friends over. Upon some more digging, they found out that the boy was a Class 9 dropout and had no job. His father also drives a Tempo for work. The cops realised that the boy could not have afforded to spend money on his own. The cops picked up on suspicion and when they questioned him, he came clean and confessed.
The police at first went to look for the valuables, 440gm gold and 460gm silver at the minor's home but didn't find any. The boy later informed the ops about his hiding spot from where the items were recovered, SI Shashikant Mane told.
The boy had earlier stolen some mobile phones too which he kept hidden in the manhole. Cops said that the boy thought that even though cops might detain him, they wouldn't find the stolen items at his home.
He was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board and since he was addicted to drugs, he was put up at a rehabilitation centre after handing him over to his parents.