Man who looted Navi Mumbai civic body leader’s residence, arrested

The theft took place on March 30, when the family members were not home. 975 grams of gold and cash worth Rs2.50 lakh was stolen.

The police on Friday arrested a 20-year-old man Uttar Pradesh for allegedly looting around 975 grams of gold and cash worth Rs2.50 lakh from NMMC leader of Opposition, Vijay Chougule’s, residence in Airoli.

The accused has been identified as Anurag Singh, who worked an assistant at the leader’s office for almost three years. (Representational photo)

The theft took place on March 30, when the family members were not home. CTTV cameras installed in the house showed Singh getting out of the house with the valuables. The accused has been identified as Anurag Singh and has been working as an assistant at Chougule’s office for almost three years.

Chougule stays at Yash Paradise building at sector 8. His office is located close to his residence. Singh often visited Chougule’s residence for work and hence, he was familiar with the building. Some of Singh’s relatives are still employed by the Chougule family.

Pradeep Tidar, senior police inspector of Rabale police station, said, “After we got all the details about the accused, we had sent a team of officials to Uttar Pradesh. The team managed to arrest him from Varanasi, and they reached the city on Saturday.”

The police have booked Singh under section 381 (theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master) of the Indian penal code (IPC). “So far we have recovered 875 gram gold and Rs1.50 lakh in cash from him. We are interrogating him to get more details. We are also trying to find out if others were involved,” said Tidar.

Chougule said, “On March 30, I was out till past midnight. My wife was in Bangalore for medical treatment and my son had gone to his in-laws’ place with his family. So there was no one in the house.”

“The boy entered my bedroom through the terrace between 8pm and 9pm. He opened the cupboard with screw drivers and then got away with the cash and the jewelry. I learnt about the theft next morning and informed the police,” he said.