Employees nabbed using camera footage

The police, on Thursday, arrested the domestic help and the former driver for allegedly breaking into the house of a Khar-based builder. The accused were identified as Deepak Singh alias Kartik Das (20) and Tapan Quila (26).

The Khar police, with the help of CCTV footage, cracked the Rs 54-lakh theft at a builder’s house within 48 hours.

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The police, on Thursday, arrested the domestic help and the former driver for allegedly breaking into the house of a Khar-based builder. The accused were identified as Deepak Singh alias Kartik Das (20) and Tapan Quila (26).

Inquiries are on to trace the Quila’s brother, who is the third accused. The police have so far recovered Rs 2.5 lakh cash and valuables worth Rs 49 lakh.

The police said, on April 25, jewellery and cash worth Rs 54.18 lakh were stolen from the flat of Gopal Gorwani (61) while he was out. Gorwani resides at President apartments in Bandra and also owns an office there. When the family returned around 1 am, the house was ransacked and valuables were missing. Gorwani then lodged a complaint with the police.

The watchman of the complex told the police he had seen Deepak Singh, Gorwani’s domestic help, carrying a bag while leaving the house at night. The police identified Singh from the CCTV footage at Gorwani’s office. “The family thought he came from Nepal,” said Amitabh Gupta, additional commissioner of police, West region.

“We discovered Singh’s original name was Kartik Das and he was involved in a case of house break-in in Khar in 2007. Police also learnt he hailed from West Bengal,” said Assistant Police Inspector Nitin Patil.

“Based on a tip off, we nabbed Singh from Bandra on Thursday,” said Gupta.

During interrogation, Singh revealed the plan had been masterminded by Quila, the former driver of the family along with his brother, who worked as a cook with the family.