Serial house breaker arrested in Navghar with valuables above ₹10L

Police in Mumbai have arrested a 40-year-old man, Chetan Prakash Mokash, for allegedly robbing cash and jewellery worth ?2.65 lakh ($3,600) after breaking into a real estate agent's house. Mokash, a resident of Thane, is believed to be a serial house breaker and has several cases registered against him in various police stations. Mokash's modus operandi was to approach real estate agents on the pretext of searching for a rental flat in the city.

Mumbai: A 40-year-old man was arrested on Sunday for allegedly robbing cash and jewellery worth ₹2.65 lakh after breaking and entering a real estate agent’s house in Bhayander West. The police said the accused, identified as Chetan Prakash Mokash, a resident of Thane, is a serial house breaker. The police said that the accused has several cases registered against him in various police stations.

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Mokash’s modus operandi was to approach real estate agents on the pretext of searching for a rental flat in the city. He would do a recce of several apartment buildings and make note of how many flats were locked so he would break in and enter to rob them.

According to Jayant Bajbale, deputy commissioner of police Mira-Bhayander police, Mokash, approached one of the real estate agents Manisha Parmar on May 11, on the pretext of renting a house in the RNP Park area in Bhayander West. While engaging in casual talks with Parmar, he extracted information about her address and also that she was going out with her husband Dheeraj for a wedding for the next two days.

Mokasha robbed the house key of Parmar’s residence at the Sai Sarovar building and broke into the flat on the same night. Bajbale said that on May 12 when the domestic help went to Parmar’s house, she saw the cupboards ransacked and the safe broken with a drilling machine.

“We scanned the CCTV of the building and found Mokasha entering the building and walking through the passageway of the Parmar residence. Based on the recordings, we traced Mokasha from Thane and arrested him within four hours of the complaint being registered,” said Bajbale.

The police searched Mokasha’s house and seized the entire stolen items along with ₹10 lakh cash which he had robbed from other houses. The police also seized house-breaking tools from his possession. “We are now finding out how many more houses Mokasha had robbed,” added Bajbale.