Pune: Resto owner, sister-in-law arrested on charge of burglary in bungalow in Karvenagar

PUNE: A 45-year-old owner of a restaurant in Wakad, who also owns an under-construction three-star hotel project in the same area, was arrested with his sister-in-law for the burglary of valuables worth Rs98 lakh from a consultant's bungalow in Karvenagar during Diwali.
The arrested man, Raju Kalmegh, also owns a farmhouse in Nashik, a flat in a plush society in Vadgaon Budruk and a high-end SUV. The sister-in-law (31) is pursuing a law degree course, the police said.
"Kalmegh, is a burglar on police records with four cases to his name - two in Mumbai and one each in Amravati and Nashik. We have recovered the entire stolen booty from the duo, apart from the SUV and a scooter used in the crime. With the latter, the total worth of the recovered goods is Rs1.13 crore," said senior inspector Rajendra Sahane of the Alankar police.
On October 27, a 70-year-old business consultant had lodged a complaint with the Alankar police about the theft of gold, silver and diamond ornaments from his bungalow. "The senior citizen and his wife had brought all their ornaments out from the bank locker for Laxmi Puja," Sahane said.
The officer said the thieves had entered the bungalow by breaking the locks of the kitchen door on the rear side. "There were no CCTV cameras there. When our team checked CCTV footage from the neighbouring bungalow, we noticed two persons at the complainant's home around 2am on October 27," said Sahane.
A police team, including constables Sagar Kekan, Sharad Chavan and Dheeraj Pawar, started collecting CCTV footage from nearby. "We saw a man and a woman coming towards the bungalow on a scooter. The same woman had also carried out recce in the afternoon," Sahane said.
The man had parked his SUV at some distance from the bungalow. "We found out its registration number. We reached Kalmegh's flat in Vadgaon Budruk as the vehicle was registered in his name and took him into custody," said Sahane.
During questioning, Kalmegh admitted to his involvement. His wife, who was not aware of her husband's criminal activities till then, told the police that the woman with her husband was her step-sister.
"Kalmegh revealed that the entire booty was with his sister-in-law. We took her into custody from Mumbai before she escaped to Gujarat with the stolen ornaments," Sahane said.