Four held for theft at coffee shops

The Crime Branch on Monday claimed to have solved a spate of robberies at the popular hangout —Cafe Coffee Day—with the arrest of four persons. The main accused in the case is a former employee of the company.

The Crime Branch on Monday claimed to have solved a spate of robberies at the popular hangout —Cafe Coffee Day—with the arrest of four persons. The main accused in the case is a former employee of the company.

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The four have been identified as Sohail Salim Kazi, 20, Agnalo Leonard Wadaliz, 23, Jay Vasudev Gupta, 20, and Afzal Mohammad Ilyas Ansari, 20.

Himanshu Roy, joint commissioner of police, crime, said Sohail had worked with the café.

On October 28, around 3.50am, four unidentified persons had barged into the Café Coffee Day outlet at Dev Prakash Building at Girgaum Chowpatty. They threatened the cashier and a couple of employees by shoving sharp edged weapons and fled with Rs 25,000 and a mobile phone. Three days later, the four struck at the outlet near CST at 4.10am and decamped with cash and valuables worth over Rs 21,000.

Unit II of the Crime Branch conducted parallel probe along with the local police. During investigation, the crime branch ran a check on the employees who had quit their jobs in the past few months.

They finally zeroed in on Sohail, who lived at Reay Road, as his behaviour appeared suspicious. They kept close watch on his movements and who all he met.

The Crime Branch claims that the four broke down during interrogation and confessed to their involvement in the robberies.