Burglar on prowl, forged disability doc his ‘alibi’

Gurgaon: A 23-year-old man from Tamil Nadu would go house to house in the city and push the doors gently to check if they were left open. If they were, he would sneak inside the house and steal gadgets — mobile phones and laptops among them.
And he had a back-up plan. He’d pull out a fake certificate to prove he had a hearing and speech disability to get him off the hook if he got caught.
Gurgaon police said on Thursday that two cases of robbery have been registered at the Sushant Lok police station against Jagdish Govindan, who lives in the southern state and would come to NCR. They also suspect that a gang from Tamil Nadu runs a larger operation with a similar modus operandi.
“We have received two cases where the man had carried out a robbery. During investigation, we learnt in a few cases that if he got caught while trying to steal, he would quickly show a certificate to say he had speech and hearing impairments to get out of the situation. He mostly stole laptops, mobile phones and cash,” said Poonam Hooda, SHO, Sushant Lok police station. She added that he would deliberately target the houses where single men lived.
He was arrested near a mall in Sushant Lok-1 on June 6. According to the cops, he would hand over the stolen valuables to his partners in Tamil Nadu, who would then sell the gadgets there.
“We have produced the culprit before the court for further proceedings. We are tracking the gang behind this case. Preliminary investigation has revealed that the gang is from Tamil Nadu and sends people to Delhi. The people act as if they have speech and hearing disabilities to commit robbery. A man who was involved in a similar robbery was caught a few months ago,” said SHO Hooda.
Ten certificates to claim his disabilities, cash worth Rs 5,000 and a laptop bag were recovered from his possession.