Mumbai Police scan CCTV footage of suburbs to nab 3 thieves

The police had to scan footage of over 150 CCTV cameras from Ghatkopar to Kandivli and from Kandivli to Bhandup via Powai to reach the three women, all in their early fifties

Samta Nagar police in Kandivli used the network of close circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed across the suburbs and traced three women who allegedly stole a gold mangalsutra of a 38-year-old Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) bus commuter from her purse on September 15.

Representational Image.

The police had to scan footage of over 150 CCTV cameras from Ghatkopar to Kandivli and then to Bhandup via Powai to nab the three women, who are sisters.

According to the police, the complainant – Rohini Chandrakant Akhade – was travelling from Ghatkopar on a BEST bus last week. When she got off at Kandivli station bus stop, she noticed that the chain of her purse was open and her mangalsutra was missing.

Akhade, a home maker, then lodged a police complaint against an unidentified thief.

The police began to scan the footages of CCTV cameras installed along the bus route from Ghatkopar to Kandivli.

“At Thakur Complex, we noticed three women alighting from the bus and then taking a rickshaw,” said senior inspector Anandrao Hanke from Samta Nagar police station.

“As they seemed suspicious, the officers followed the route of the rickshaw through the CCTV recordings and noticed that it was plying towards Powai. We then tracked down the rickshaw driver using the vehicle’s number plate. The driver informed us that he had dropped off the three women at Bhandup. On getting the location of the drop off, our officers then pulled up the recordings of the CCTV cameras of the area and saw the three women disappear in a chawl,” said Hanke.

The police then took the CCTV grab and circulated it around the locality and managed to trace the house of one of the accused – 55-year-old Anusuya Gaikwad, Hanke added.

Gaikwad revealed that her sisters – Marubai Gaikwad, 50, and Baby Gaikwad, 52, were her other accomplices.

The police arrested the three for theft under section 379 of the Indian Penal Code and recovered Akhade’s mangalsutra, worth ₹2.5 lakh.

Investigating officers said that the accused have been committing thefts in local trains and buses from a long time.

“While one of the women starts a conversation with their target, the other two open the chain of the commuter’s purse and steal valuables. The middle-aged women did not create any suspicion as they used to get friendly with their targets by pretending to be helpless and seeking help from fellow commuters,” said Hanke.