'Mumbai's unluckiest burglar' nabbed after mistaking doorbell for switch

Shrikant Khaire is probably the unluckiest burglar that the Mumbai police may have come across so far.

Shrikant Khaire

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Shrikant Khaire enters the vacant house. Illustration/Ravi Jadhav

The 32-year-old burglar broke into a house in Ghatkopar that had been lying vacant for a while. Khaire assumed that he had hit the jackpot, as the occupants of the house live overseas, however, his enthusiasm to light up the house dimmed his chances of grabbing the booty.

Unable to see in the dark, he switches on all lights, and also presses the button of the bell installed by Sawant.

Once he entered the house, Khaire began to search for the light switches. He tried a few switches before he found the ones that lit up the house. However, he was unaware that one of the switches was that of a bell that rang in the neighbour's house.

Sawant wakes up on hearing the bell and sees that his friend's house has been broken into.

According to the police, the neighbour, who is also the complainant in the theft, had the keys of the vacant house and was its caretaker.

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Sawant locks the door from outside and calls the cops

Police says
API Babasaheb Dukale of Pant Nagar police station said that the complainant Mukund Sawant stays with his family on the ground floor, while the adjacent flat is that of his friend who lives abroad.

The cops arrived at the house and opened the door and ask Khaire to come out.

The owner of the vacant flat had given the keys to Sawant.

He says, "Kya hua itne raat ko? Ye room mera hai" (What happened so late? This is my room).

API Dukale said, "Sawant used to visit the room and sometimes stay there. He even partied with his friends there. Therefore he had installed a bell in his house, the switch of which was in his friend's room. If he wanted anything, he would ring the bell from his friend's house."

The incident took place in the wee hours of Wednesday. The accused, Khaire alias Shirya, (32) had decided to loot the house as it was vacant for a long time.

The police take him to the Pant Nagar police station and arrest him.

Locked in
Sawant had locked the door from the outside when he saw Khaire had broken into the house. When the cops arrived and knocked on the door, Khaire coolly opened the door, claiming to be the owner of the house and asked the cops what they wanted at such an unearthly hour.

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Police Inspector Rajesh Kevle said, "We have registered a case against Khaire and he has been remanded in police custody. We are verifying if he has a previous crime history."

Khaire told the cops that he is a TB patient while his mother is a heart patient. He desperately needed money for his mother's treatment which forced him to commit the crime.