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‘Chor Raja’ wanted in over 100 cases arrested by Pune police
A notorious criminal wanted in more than 100 criminal cases across Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad – Rajesh Ram Papul aka ‘Chor Raja’ – was arrested from his house on August 31 by crime branch unit 2 of the Pune city police
A notorious criminal wanted in more than 100 criminal cases across Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad – Rajesh Ram Papul aka ‘Chor Raja’ – was arrested from his house on August 31 by crime branch unit 2 of the Pune city police. A resident of Katraj, the 37-year-old has been remanded to police custody till September 12.
A team helmed by Ramnath Pokle, deputy commissioner of police (crime), and comprising Shrinivas Ghadge, assistant police commissioner (crime); Gajanan Tompe, senior police inspector; and Krantikumar Patil, police inspector nabbed Raja after following his trail for four to five months. According to Pokle, Raja had mastered the art of breaking into and robbing homes in big housing societies and hence came to be known as ‘Raja’ in his fraternity. It was very difficult to track Raja as he did not use mobile phones or gadgets. “Raja started robbing at the age of seven. He knew how the police track a criminal and never used a mobile phone. Hence, it took time to arrest him,” Pokle said. A police officer from crime branch unit 2 said that it was only after they installed a GPS machine in his fiancé’s footwear that they were able to nab him.
During the Covid -19 lockdown, it was difficult for Raja to carry out housebreak thefts as a majority of the people were working from home and he ended up using all his savings. As soon as the government lifted the restrictions, he resumed housebreak thefts. Crime branch unit 2 officials said that they created a WhatsApp group named ‘Chor Raja’ to track Raja where all updates related to Raja were posted by them. Acting on a tip received by police constable Gajanan Sonune that Raja was coming to his own house, the police laid a trap for him and finally arrested him.
With Raja’s arrest, the crime branch claimed to have solved 14 housebreak cases in different parts of the city in the past two years. Raja had one case of theft registered against him at Deccan police station; one at Bund garden police station; one at Bharti Vidyapeeth police station; one at Dattawadi police station; two at Sinhagad police station; one at Warje Malwadi police station; two at Hadapsar police station; and one each at Kondhwa, Wanori, Sahakarnagar and Vishrambaug police stations.
City police commissioner Amitabh Gupta said that Raja had a history of housebreak thefts and was involved in over 100 such cases in the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad area. Gupta said that the police have recovered 42 tola gold ornaments, 4 kg silver ornaments, one pistol, one revolver, two live cartridges, one Vespa motorcycle, and two ornament-weighing machines worth Rs2,464,200 with Raja’s arrest.
Meanwhile PI Patil said that besides Chor Raja, the police are in search of Ajay Vedpathak, a jeweller who had purchased ornaments from Raja. Patil said that Raja was also involved in a theft at the home of retired DGP Ajit Parasnis’s sister in Deccan. From there, Raja robbed gold ornaments worth Rs2 lakh.
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Police sources also confirmed that Raja had purchased a gun from Uttar Pradesh and had taken a ‘supari’ to kill one of the big political leaders in Pune ahead of the civic polls. However, the police refused to reveal the name of the said political leader as they said they would reveal it in due course of time.
