Deliveryman, accomplice held for stealing cancelled items from customers

Police said the delivery executive would send his accomplice to collect items marked for return by customers and instead of sending them back to the firm, they would steal the articles

An e-commerce delivery executive and his accomplice were arrested on charges of stealing goods that were marked to be returned to the shopping website from which they were ordered, police said, adding that the two have stolen several such articles.

The arrested men have been identified as delivery executive Sachin Kumar, a resident of Ghaziabad, and Vikas, a resident of Amroha. (HT Photo)

Police said the delivery executive would send his accomplice to collect items marked for return by customers and instead of sending them back to the firm, they would steal the articles.

The arrested men have been identified as delivery executive Sachin Kumar, a resident of Ghaziabad, and Vikas, a resident of Amroha. Police said they began investigations after a case was registered at Bisrakh police station on January 22 by a resident of a high-rise society in Greater Noida West.

“The complainant stated that on January 22, an executive picked up four suitcases from him which were due for return to the e-commerce firm. However, the executive did not update the same at the warehouse of the company following which the e-commerce firm alerted the customer that since the item has not been returned, a refund request of ₹13,998 has been rejected,” said Anil Kumar Rajpoot, station house officer, Bisrakh police station.

He added that the complainant attached CCTV footage of the four suitcases being picked up by an executive.

“Based on his complaint, an FIR under Section 379 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the police station and investigations were taken up,” said the officer.

Police said a similar complaint was received by the police station on January 28.

“In that complaint, a resident of another high-rise society in the area said he ordered a phone from the e-commerce website and on finding it damaged, he put in a return request on January 19,” said the officer.

The pickup was scheduled for January 23 and an executive arrived at his doorstep to collect the device.

“However the pickup was not updated on the e-commerce website and the customer was told that since the product has not been received, the refund and return request has been cancelled,” said the SHO.

“During investigation, Sachin Kumar was found to be the common link in both the cases. He worked as a delivery executive with the e-commerce website in the Greater Noida West region. He was arrested from Char Murti roundabout on Tuesday morning and police recovered the four suitcases and one phone from his possession. On his directions, his accomplice Vikas was also arrested from Bisrakh village,” said the SHO.

He added that Kumar used to send his accomplice to collect the goods from the customers in order to escape being caught by the company. The suspects were produced before the court and sent to judicial custody on Tuesday.