dehradun

Updated: Jul 19, 2019 15:24 IST

Neeraj thought he had collected all the items he stole from the general store he had broken into.

But he had left behind a piece of evidence, which led the police in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun to him. Officials said the 27-year-old Dehradun resident was caught on Wednesday for an alleged theft in June after police found his Aadhaar card from the general store he had stolen from.

“The incident happened last month in the shop owned by victim Anil Sethi. The accused had entered the shop after breaking open the tin-ceiling of the shop,” said sub-inspector Lokendra Bahuguna, investigating officer in the case.

The accused face was captured in the shop’s CCTV camera but the “police were unable to identify him.”

“Finally on Wednesday, police got a vital clue when Sethi decided to clean the ceiling of the shop. During that he found a wallet lying there with the Aadhaar card of Neeraj. Police immediately raided the address mentioned on it but found that he was not living there but on a different address,” said Bahuguna.

Police mobilised their informers to trace Neeraj and found his location in one of the slums of the city. Based on the input, the police raided the location and caught him.

“During questioning, he confessed to the theft along with a previous one. It was found that he had gone to jail in 2012 for stealing mobile phones worth Rs 65,000,” Bahuguna said.

“Both his parents had died about a year ago. He confessed to meeting his needs by committing theft but not working. He is still being interrogated to find any other thefts committed by him after which he would be produced before a court.”