Mumbai cops aid Tamil Nadu police to nab gold thief

The Mumbai police officers have earned some definite brownie points for this one. Having been approached by Vadapalli police in Tamil Nadu for help on a robbery in a jewellery polishing unit, the Malwani police not only nabbed the 24-year-old robber who had fled to Mumbai with 2.5 kg gold, but helped in recovering 95 per cent of the booty as well.u00a0

According to officers from Malwani police station, Assistant Police Inspector (API) Rajesh Tendulkar received a call from a fellow officer at Vadapalli police station in Tamil Nadu, informing him that a youth involved in a robbery case was hiding in Mumbai and they were not being able to track him.

In police net: Sujay Choudhary being taken back to Tamil Nadu from the city yesterday

The thief, identified as Sujay Choudhary, a native of Uttar Pradesh, was working for a gold polishing unit in Coimbatore. Last Sunday, the watchman stopped him for a daily security check while he was leaving from work.

However, Choudhary threw polishing acid on the watchman's face and fled with the gold. When police checked his credentials, they found that he had given a fake Kolkata address. They learnt that he was in Mumbai through mobile location tracking. When they failed to find his exact location, they approached the local police for help.

Tendulkar got on the job and found out that Choudhary had worked in Mumbai and had some relatives in the western suburbs. He then traced a relative and got Choudhary's current mobile number from him. The Vadapalli police officers came to Mumbai and in the last two days, the police started tracking Choudhary's movements, right from Wadala to Churchgate.

On Saturday night, Choudhary was found to be at Rani Sati Marg in Kurar, Malad (East). The officers swiftly formed a team and arrested Choudhary from a relative's house. Choudhary was packing to flee to UP, said Tendulkar. His bag contained a laptop, expensive clothes and mobile phones which he had bought as gifts after selling some of the stolen jewellery.

"We arrested Choudhary and handed him over to Vadapalli police officers. They took him to Tamil Nadu on Sunday," said Senior Police Inspector (SPI) Abdul Rouf Shaikh, Malwani police station.

A grateful PSI S Bhaskaran from Vadapalli police station said, "We did not know how to locate the accused. With the help of Malwani officers we were able to arrest Choudhary and recover the booty."u00a0