Man held for faking house theft, stealing ₹3 lakh from roommate

The Ghatkopar police registered a case under sections 454 and 380 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and started investigating the case.

A 22-year-old man, in his third year of Masters of Arts, was arrested for stealing ₹3.34 lakh from his roommate in Ghatkopar.

Police said the accused, Mohammed Javed Abdul Salam, who lives in Imamwada Chowk in Ghatkopar (East), approached them on April 24(HTPhotos)

Police said the accused, Mohammed Javed Abdul Salam, who lives in Imamwada Chowk in Ghatkopar (East), approached them on April 24 and complained that someone had broken into the house in which he and his friend lived and stolen the money.

The Ghatkopar police registered a case under sections 454 and 380 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and started investigating the case.

They found that the roommate had told Salam he had brought cash from his native village to buy property in the city.

According to police, Salam stole the money and then messed up their room and broke the lock with a screwdriver when his friend was not around, in an attempt to make it look like a crime scene.

“We checked their call records and found that Salam had received many calls on his mobile phone on the day of the robbery,” said a police officer. “We did not doubt him at first but his roommate suspected him.”

Police then asked Salam to come to the police station every day and during one such visit, he confessed and said he had kept the cash with a friend in Kurla. “The friend from Kurla confirmed the same,” said the officer.