Mumbai: Auto Rickshaw driver, vegetable seller aide held for stealing manhole covers in Vakola

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Mumbai Police have arrested an auto rickshaw driver and his aide, a vegetable seller for allegedly stealing manhole cover from western suburbs of the city, an official said.

The police said that an investigation was launched after a complaint was received that a manhole cover from the Vakola area was found to be stolen.

According to the police, On August 11, a manhole cover was found to be stolen near Vakola bridge. The manhole cover belonging to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was allegedly stolen from the spot and after receiving a complaint an FIR under section 379 (Theft) and 34 (Common Intention) of the IPC was registered by the Vakola Police.

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A team of police from Vakola Police Station in western suburbs of the city began to investigate the matter and checked the CCTV footage in the vicinity. The police officials spotted the suspects in one of the footage and further used technical clues to reach the culprit who were later traced to the Khar area of Mumbai, police sources said.

Two accused were arrested in the matter, they were identified as Anil Verma, 34, an auto rickshaw driver and his accomplice Anil Kewat, 27, a vegetable seller.

"The investigations in the matter revealed that there were similar previous cases too which were being investigated," an official said.
The Vakola police had registered three cases of similar crimes this year and had been further investigating them, the police said.

During the investigations, the police officials found that a man who had been allegedly involved in several previous cases of thefts had been arrested by the Kurla Police in a case at Kurla Police Station. The man was later identified as Shahnawaz Shaikh, 26. The Vakola Police have taken his custody and placed him under arrest for the case related to their jurisdiction, the police said.

In a similar incident in June, the police had arrested two persons for allegedly stealing manhole covers from various parts of Mumbai, the police had earlier said.

The duo had allegedly stolen manhole covers in south and central Mumbai, an official had earlier said.

They were identified through CCTV camera footage and tracked down to Dongri in south Mumbai through their call detail records (CDR).

At least four cases were registered against them, the official had then said.

In 2018, a prominent gastroenterologist Deepak Amrapurkar died after he fell into an open manhole during heavy rains in Mumbai.