Mumbai: Runaway thief held at home after returning for previous case hearing

The Malad Police's search for a burglar who was absconding after robbing a medical shop came to an end, after he came back to the city to attend a court hearing in a previous case. He was confident he would not get caught for robbing the shop. But the cops caught the 22-year-old accused at his residence, when he returned from his native place.

The accused Rahul Jha (in blue) was captured by the CCTV cameras located at the medical store

According to police sources, the arrested accused has been identified as Rahul Jha. He was wanted for a break-in he committed in October this year. Jha had entered into the Harshi Medical store in Malad (west) after it was shut, and decamped with R60,000 in cash and medicines worth the same amount.

After committing the crime, he escaped to his native place.

But he was captured in the CCTV installed at the shop, when he had visited it earlier to see where they stored all the cash.

After working on the CCTV images, cops established his identity. They came to know that Jha had been arrested earlier in another house break-in case, for which he was supposed to attend a court hearing on December 29.

Laying the trap
Cops activated their network of informers. They caught him at his house. In his confession to Malad Police, Jha revealed that after committing the crime, he went to his native place. He was aware about his court hearing on December 29. He planned to attend the hearing because if he failed to do so, an arrest warrant would be issued for him.

'Did not rob medicines'
Jha confessed that he robbed R60,000 cash, but denied robbing medicines worth the same amount. He suspects that medical store's owner has misled the cops to claim insurance of the stolen medicine.

Jha has been booked under Section 380 (theft in dwelling). He was produced before the court and has been remanded in police custody, the police added.