Two wanted thieves in Gujarat confess to robbing Nalasopara bizman of ₹6.75 lakh at gun point

During their investigation, police recovered two pistols, 12 live rounds, ₹2.1 lakh in cash and 400gram of gold ornaments worth ₹15 lakh in the accused’s possession

Two robbers who were arrested by the Mumbai crime branch have confessed to robbing ₹6.75 lakh from a businessman in Nalasopara in March, by holding him at gun point. The two convicts admitted to conducting reconnaissance to commit more robberies in Kalyan, Thane, Igathpuri, Pune and a few places in Mumbai.

The complainant, Mahendra Jain who runs a shop in the Nalasopara area, left his residence around 9am on March 13 to go to his shop. He was carrying cash ₹6.25 lakh in a bag.

The arrested accused, Dharmendra Singh alias DK Singh and Rajendra Pande approached Jain on their motorbike with their faces covered and threatened him at gun-point. They stole the money and also took Jain’s mobile phone worth ₹50,000 before fleeing the spot.

The theft case was registered in Nalasapara and police scanned the CCTV cameras in the area to identify the thieves. They were able to spot the robbers in footage from one CCTV camera, said a police officer.

Singh and Pande, typically roamed on a motorbike looking for targets. They would cover their faces with handkerchiefs while conducting their crimes, in an attempt to keep their identities secret.

“The bike which was used in the Nalasopara robbery was stolen. During a search of Singh’s house we found one more pistol and five live rounds” said a crime branch official.

Prior to the March robbery, Pandey and Singh, along with two others had barged into a businessman’s house in Gujarat and threatened the family at gun-point in April. They robbed gold ornaments and ₹4 lakh. A robbery case was registered against the two in Botad police station, around 90km from Bhavnagar area in Gujarat.

Singh along with his aide Amir Khan were found guilty of shooting a real estate contractor in Nalasopara in 2014. The two were arrested in the murder case but after a year, Singh was granted bail while Khan is still in judicial custody.

Singh and Pandey have now been remanded in police custody till May 24.