27-yr-old thief, trying to escape residents of locality he had targeted for a break-in, jumped boundary wall of society in Nahur, expecting freedom on the other side, only to be greeted by cops



Illustration/Uday Mohite

He came, he robbed, he jumped... and he was caught. A 27-year-old thief, trying to escape the residents of the locality he had targeted for a break-in, jumped the boundary wall of the society, expecting freedom on the other side. Instead, he was greeted by two policemen waiting for him.

Morning mayhem

The incident happened in the early hours of Saturday in Subhkamna Society, Nahur. Accused Nilesh Gujar, a Kalwa resident, had reached the area from Thane on Friday night and spent hours roaming around trying to find a target. He only managed to zero in on a building early the next morning after jumping a wall. But before he could carry out the crime, residents out for a morning walk saw him moving around suspiciously and raised an alarm. He then took out his bag and from within it a chopper and threatened them all to stay away.

Also Read: Thief escapes from court, jumps into Mithi, gets caught again

Scared, the locals backed away. Taking advantage of that he ran towards the wall that separated the two buildings. But unbeknownst to him, the locals had already called up the police control room by then. So when he jumped over on to the other side, he landed directly in the hands of the two policemen waiting for him after getting a call from the area’s residents.

In cop net

Senior Inspector Ajinath Satpute of Kanjurmarg police station said, “The accused has been arrested under sections 454 (lurking house-trespass or house-breaking in order to commit offence), 457 (lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night in order to commit offence) and 380 (theft in dwelling house) of the Indian Penal Code. House break-in tools, including a crowbar, a screwdriver, three hexablades, a chopper and a monkey cap were found on him. He is a habitual offender and we are expecting to find out about his involvement in more such cases in Kanjurmarg and Bhandup.” Gujar has at least four house break-in cases registered against him in the eastern suburbs.