THE MUMBAI police earlier this week arrested a 32-year-old UP man who would fly down to Mumbai, stay in a chawl for a month, hit at least 10 houses and fly back to UP. This time around, Rajesh Arvind Rajbhar (32), however was more desperate as he was to get married within a month and needed money for the same. Despite having been released from prison nearly a month back, he struck again and landed in the police net.
Senior inspector Ajay Joshi said that between March 15 to 27 last month, Rajbhar broke into five houses including Nehru Nagar, Mulund, Bhandup and two in Ulwe. It was while investigating the break-in at the Mulund house on March 17 from where he fled with jewellery worth Rs 7 lakh that the police managed to nab him from a chawl in Kalwa, Thane, where he was staying since March 13. On his arrest, the police recovered 28 tola (1 tola is nearly 12 grams) gold worth nearly Rs 14 lakh, 2 kgs of silver along with Rs 1.5 lakh in cash.
Joshi said that Rajbhar, who originally hails from Azamgadh in UP would fly down to the city and take up residence in a chawl. He would stay for nearly a month and try to target at least 10 houses in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai.
“He would enter a building and go to the top floor. While coming down, he would see houses where no one was staying. He would lock the adjacent flats from the outside and enter the targeted flat, take jewellery, cash and flee,” Joshi said. He specialised in break-ins during the day as he felt it raised less suspicion, the police said.
Joshi said that since 2014, he has at least six cases registered for break-ins in Vasai, Thane among other places. “He was targeting more houses this time as he was to get married soon and needed the money,” Joshi added.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd