One half of ‘Bunty-Babli’ duo strikes at Ekta Heights

The thief used the scaffolding made for repair works to scale the wall and enter flats on higher floors at Ekta Heights building in Khar West. Pics/Anurag Ahire

It was high drama at the upscale Ekta Heights building in Khar West as residents and security blew the whistle, literally, on a thief on Thursday morning. The 12-storey structure, with one flat on each floor, is undergoing work like waterproofing, painting and repairs, and the thief made use of the scaffolding to scale the wall.

Prakash Jain, secretary of the society, said, "Our building camera surveillance showed that at approximately 3.45 am on March 3, a man clad in all black was scaling the building scaffolding.

"He started climbing the scaffolding, and the security did not spot him. He went to the fifth floor and entered the flat. A resident woke up due to the noise and started shouting. However, the thief exited the flat via the scaffolding and went up to the 12th floor. The floor was empty and locked from outside," he said.

Whistle wake-up

By then, shouts from the fifth-floor resident had alerted others. The key moment was when the building security blew "their whistles which are specially given to the guards. In fact, every flat has been given a whistle so that the sound serves as a warning call, telling people that something is wrong," said Jain.

The housing society organised for whistles to all flats handy for raising an alarm

Society chairperson Jayasree Nair said, "I think giving the whistles was one of the best decisions. This is a noisemaker that gets immediate attention. After the alert was raised, security, car washers, and even early morning staffers from another building in our compound came running with sticks. It was game over for the thief." Nair and Jain said the residents called the Khar police and cops arrived soon after.

Not moving

The curtain, however, did not fall on the drama which had been on for more than an hour. The thief, after entering the 12th-floor flat that was locked from outside, was sitting inside "comfortably", said Nair. "He probably thought he was safer with the police than the residents," said Nair, with a little laugh.

Society treasurer Dharmendra Savansukha said, "This was a professional thief and a repeat offender, as people had rightly suspected with his adept climbing. We heard the police knew him. They were calling him ‘Rahul' and asked him to come out of the flat. We also learnt that he had been released from prison just a month ago."

Police plaudits

"The police were impressively speedy and responsive," said Savansukha, with a special mention for sub-inspector Sachin Trimukhe from Khar police station. "Since Rahul did not come out after repeated orders, cops broke open the door. He had a backpack with a mobile phone and a watch. A wallet which he had stolen from the fifth floor was later found inside the flat," said committee members.

Nair said, "Later on Friday, we learnt that this repeat offender had also entered the second-floor flat which was empty and locked and rummaged through it, pulling out things from cupboards, literally turning it upside down."

CopSpeak

Sub-inspector Trimukhe said, "The accused is Rahul Gurav, a habitual offender. He had been in prison for two years and was released a month ago."

He added, "Rahul targets buildings with scaffolding. In 2019, we had caught him along with his co-offender Kishore N. We dub them ‘Bunty and Babli'. This man has a penchant for stealing watches, jewellery, perfumes, expensive bags, though he will not harm the occupant. He also steals expensive alcohol bottles. In fact, a couple of years ago, the duo had wreaked havoc in Khar, Bandra and Santacruz areas. He is currently in police custody."

3.45 am
Time the thief was seen scaling the building