Cabbie poses as plumber and robs woman at Ghansoli

The Rabale police on Tuesday arrested a 30-year-old cab driver, who allegedly posed as a plumber and committed house thefts in Navi Mumbai. Kamlesh Gupta, was arrested

The Rabale police on Tuesday arrested a 30-year-old cab driver, who allegedly posed as a plumber and committed house thefts in Navi Mumbai. Kamlesh Gupta, was arrested based on a complaint filed by a 56-year-old Ghansoli resident. He has been remanded in police custody till Monday.

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Tolabai Jadhav was alone at home when Gupta came to her house at 1.30pm on Monday. He introduced himself as a plumber and said there is a problem with her bathroom tap. After she let him, he locked the door, threatened to kill her and tied her up with a rope.

He took away the jewellery she was wearing and rummaged through the cupboard and took away valuables collectively worth ₹70,000, and fled in a car he had parked outside.

After the woman filed a complaint, the police scanned CCTV footage and tracked Gupta to his residence in Dombivli, where he lives with his wife and seven-year-old daughter.

According to police, in September, Gupta had robbed a woman at knife-point in a similar way at Kopar Khairane. “His modus operandi was to identify vulnerable or elderly women. He would then hang around the housing societies and once he identified his target, he would approach them posing as a plumber,” said Avinash Mahajan, assistant inspector at Rabale police station.

Investigations revealed that Gupta used to run a mobile shop and would sell SIM cards without proper documentation. Police are likely to register a case for the offence too, they said.