05 October,2020 07:16 AM IST | Mumbai | Diwakar Sharma
The 'Pakistan flag' (left) drawn by Gaurav Dalvi (right) in one of the houses he targetted. Pics/Hanif Patel
The Boisar unit of the Crime Branch has arrested a 20-year-old youth who robbed bungalows in Dahanu and even stabbed people who resisted. After looting a house in Vangaon, the accused, Gaurav Bhupendra Dalvi, had also drawn the Pakistan flag with lipstick on a glass door.
As robberies were increasing in the past month in Vangaon, senior police officers in Palghar district roped in the local Crime Branch (LCB) to conduct parallel investigations.
After four days of investigations, eight policemen of the Boisar unit of the LCB arrested Dalvi. "Dalvi stole a motorcycle from Dahanu on September 10 and used it to roam around to find his targets. He entered a bungalow at Vangaon on September 28 at 2:30am, and went to the top floor where a 25-year-old girl was sleeping. He picked up her mobile phone and ATM card. When she woke up and shouted for help, he stabbed her hand and ran away," Bhimsen Gaikwad, in-charge of Boisar unit of LCB, told mid-day.
"Her relatives and neighbours tried to chase the accused who hid near a house in the vicinity where a 48-year-old man, Deepak Save, tried to catch him. But he stabbed Save too and ran into the forest where generally locals do not venture, specially after sunset due to the presence of wildlife," said Gaikwad.
Residents called the police who took possession of the motorcycle which the robber had left behind. The cops learnt that the bike was stolen from Dahanu. They found CCTV footage in which the accused was seen stealing the motorcycle.
A few days ago, the accused had also stolen a mobile phone from a bungalow at Vangaon. After committing the offence, Gaikwad said, "He took out a milk packet from the refrigerator, boiled the milk and drank it. All the while, he threatened the family with a knife. Then he grabbed a lipstick kept on the dressing table and sketched the Pakistan flag on a glass door and fled."
Terrorised locals in Vangaon had even begun patrolling at nights on their own. "We camped in the village for four consecutive days in civil dress, mingled with local residents and got a lead on Saturday that the accused was coming. However, when we inched closer to him, he ran. But eight of our team members arrested him after two kilometres and a 45-minute chase," said Gaikwad.
During interrogation, the cops learnt that Dalvi had started stealing in the past one month as he had been living at his sister's house and he needed money for his own expenditure.
"Dalvi told us that his father often beat his mother and hence he started living with his sister. He is Std XII fail and does nothing. He had sketched the Pakistan flag to misguide the police," Gaikwad said. Dalvi is in police custody.
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