Minor detained for tying, threatening, robbing senior citizen in Pune

The minor allegedly tied up the 80-year-old man with nylon rope, covered the man’s face with handkerchief, threatened him at knife point, and stole cash and mobile phone from his residence

A 15-year-old minor was detained by the Koregaon Park police for allegedly tying up an 80-year-old man with a nylon rope, covering the latter’s face with a handkerchief, threatening him at knife point, and stealing cash and a mobile phone from his residence.

The incident was reported on January 1 between 6.45 pm and 7.30 pm at A1/3, Agrasen Society located in the Koregaon Park area of Pune city. ((PIC FOR REPRESENTATION))

The incident was reported on January 1 between 6.45 pm and 7.30 pm at A1/3, Agrasen Society located in the Koregaon Park area of Pune city. The victim has been identified as Prasad Agarwal, 80, a retired man living alone in a flat in the Koregaon Park area of Pune city. The complainant and Prasad Agarwal’s son, Ravindra Agarwal, 56, is in the real estate business and lives with his family in the Sopan Baug area. Prasad Agarwal lives in Koregaon Park, and Ravindra hired a caretaker for his father from a private firm.

The police said that the accused minor joined duty at Prasad Agarwal’s house 20 days ago. On Wednesday evening, the accused completed all his work at around 6.45 pm, took a chair from the living room, and went inside the bathroom. When the victim asked the accused about the chair, the accused said that he needed a chair for study purposes. The victim felt that something was amiss and followed the accused into the room.

As soon as the victim entered the bedroom, the accused attacked him and pushed him on the bed. The accused tied the victim’s hands and legs using nylon rope. When the victim tried to resist, the accused covered his face with a handkerchief.

Meanwhile, the accused took a knife from the kitchen and threatened the victim to handover all the valuables including cash otherwise he would kill him. In order to save his life, the victim told the accused that he had kept ₹17,000 under his bed whereas the remaining cash was kept in the cupboard. The accused stole a total of ₹32,000 and the mobile phone, and fled the scene.

Runal Mulla, senior police inspector at Koregaon Park police station, said, “For more than 30 minutes, the victim struggled to free his hands and legs. Somehow he managed to free his hands but in the attempt, sustained scratches and was injured.’’

According to Mulla, after freeing his hands and legs, the victim made a crawling attempt to reach the window and called the neighbours for help. Later, the neighbours called the victim’s son and informed him about the incident and rushed the victim to a nearby hospital for further medical treatment.

“The senior citizen was mentally disturbed after this incident,’’ said Mulla.

Immediately after the incident, a police team rushed to the spot and after technical analysis, they formed two teams to nab the accused. Meanwhile, the police were informed about a minor accused on his way to Madhya Pradesh. Accordingly on Thursday, the police along with the railway police laid a trap at Bhusawal Junction railway station and detained the accused who was travelling via Karnataka Express headed towards his hometown in Madhya Pradesh. On Friday, the minor was produced before the juvenile justice board and granted 15 days’ correctional home custody.

Mulla said, “During the investigation, the accused confessed that recently, the victim had scolded the accused over his work. Hence, the accused was angry and decided to teach the victim a lesson and hatched the plan accordingly.’’

During the police investigation, it was revealed that the accused submitted fake documents showing his age as 19 to the placement agency to get a job in Pune. The police said that 15 days ago, the agency had asked him to complete his police verification documents which he failed to submit due to which the agency removed him from the work. Even after that, he was working at the residence of the victim and on January 1, he borrowed ₹20,000 from the victim’s grandson for personal reasons.

The police investigation also revealed that the accused knew that the victim’s son had recently given him some cash and accordingly, the accused hatched a plan to steal this cash.

A case has been filed at the Koregaon Park police station under sections 311 and 127 (2) of the BNS and further investigation is underway.