Police dress up as ‘baraatis’ to nab thief, who was on the run for 15 months

After tracking the movements of the relatives of the accused, Vinod Devkar, a resident of Khar, the police had found out that they were all headed to Saykheda village, Darwa Taluka of Yavatmal district to attend a wedding. The police also learnt that it was the wedding of Devkar’s niece. Expecting him to attend the wedding, a team of policemen dressed up as ‘baraatis’ lay waiting for him and managed to apprehend him.

MUMBAI: It was a wedding in a nondescript village far away from the city, however, it had officers of Dadar police station dressed up as ‘baraatis’ (members of a wedding party), even wearing pagris (turbans). All this to nab an accused, who was on the run for the last 15 months, after allegedly stealing ₹50 lakh in cash from a house in Worli.

Police dress up as ‘baraatis’ to nab thief, who was on the run for 15 months

After tracking the movements of the relatives of the accused, Vinod Devkar, a resident of Khar, the police had found out that they were all headed to Saykheda village, Darwa Taluka of Yavatmal district to attend a wedding.

The police also learnt that it was the wedding of Devkar’s niece. Expecting him to attend the wedding, a team of policemen dressed up as ‘baraatis’ lay waiting for him and managed to apprehend him.

“The police of the village confirmed that there was a wedding planned in the village on May 15. Accordingly, our teams reached the village, and we dressed up as ‘baraatis’, even wearing wedding pagris (turbans) and mingled with the crowd. Once we identified Devkar in the crowd, we took him away from the other ‘baraatis’ and apprehended him,” said Ramkrishna Sagade, assistant police inspector of Dadar police station.

Police officials said Devkar had allegedly carried out the theft on March 17, 2022, at the residence of Sandeep Jagannath Desai, 42, at Veer Nariman Road in Worli when the family had gone to attended a puja at their farmhouse in Panvel. They returned the next day and found their cupboards ransacked, and an amount of ₹50 lakh missing.

A case of theft was registered and after investigations, the police suspected the role of an insider as the accused had entered the house using duplicate keys. The police arrested Pradeep Kanade, who was a driver employed by the family. Kanade said he had provided a set of duplicate keys to Devkar, said Mahesh Mugutrao, senior police inspector, Dadar police station.

The police then searched for Devkar, who was seen in the CCTV footages, but could not trace him. “We arrested his relatives Rahul Kuradkar, Manish Parab, Bhushan Pawar and Mangala Kuradkar,” said Sagade adding that a big chunk of the stolen money was with Devkar, who had several cases registered against him, he added.

“We later learnt that Devkar had started a car showroom in Rajasthan and had cheated people there as well by accepting money and not delivering cars,” said Sagade.

“We formed a team, which included API Sagade and policemen Bhagwan Paygan, Data Shinde, Ajit Mahadik, Mahesh Kolte, Durga Kolte and Manish More. The team learnt that on May 15 there was a marriage in the Devkar family. It was the wedding of the accused’s niece, and he was likely to attend it,” said Mugutrao.

The police then started working on the information and tracked phones of his relatives and found that all of them were proceeding towards Saykheda village. The police team then decided to dress up as ‘baraatis’ and finally, managed to nab Devkar.