Thief caught stealing red-handed, stripped off clothes by mob in Naigaon

Accused, Pravin Kumar Kushwaha, being thrashed by the mob on Tuesday evening

A burglar, who was caught red-handed while stealing from a shanty in Naigaon, has learnt the lesson of his life after he was thrashed black and blue by residents of the neighbourhood. The humiliation worsened, when the mob stripped him of his clothes, leaving him to bleed.

According to the Vasai Police, the incident took place late on Tuesday evening, when the accused, identified as Pravin Kumar Kushwaha, 35, broke into a shanty in Naigaon. As nobody was present in the house, Kushwaha managed to steal a television set, gas cylinder and other valuables. But, suspecting that neighbours would sense something amiss if he left with all the items at one go, he decided to hide all the stolen goods at a farm, not very far from the house. As he was leaving the house with the last of the stolen items, the shanty owner, Pooja Vanaspusal, 30, along with her five-year-old daughter, arrived at the scene. Before they could even enter the room and get hold of him, Kushwaha locked himself inside.

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Meanwhile, Vanaspusal called her neighbours and relatives for help. As a crowd gathered outside the house, Kushwaha realised he was in trouble and attempted to escape. He opened the door and only ran a little distance when the angry mob gheraoed him. Kushwaha was brutally beaten and even stripped. By the time, the police arrived at the scene, he had suffered severe fractures to his hands.

The woman whose house was being burgled

The cops took him to a nearby hospital for treatment, after which he was taken to the police station, where he was booked under various sections of Indian Penal Code. He was produced before a court and remanded in judicial custody. His condition is currently stable, said a police official from Naigaon police station.

Justifying the assault, Vanaspusal said, "I had gone to the market, when the man broke into my house. The next time he commits a crime, he will think twice."

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