Mumbai Crime: CCTVs help cops crack Rs 45 lakh heist

The vehicle that was used to make the getaway from the site of the robberyOn Monday the Malabar Hill police arrested two members of a gang of four who had on July 18 looted the home of high court advocate Hemant Mehta mdash of goods collectively worth Rs 45 lakh mdash when he was out of town for the weekend Two others including mastermind Ijaz are still abscondingChasing the scentWhen we checked the only CCTV camera at the entrance of Mehtas flat we saw one man in his 30s come towards the house notice the CCTV camera and immediately turning it around That was the only footage we had to work with and since it was dark we couldnt see the face clearly Thats when we extracted footage from all CCTV cameras on August Kranti Maidan Road between Kemps corner to Stephens Church We believed that the theft occurred sometime on the intervening night of July 17 and 18 said police subinspector Avinash SawantAlso Read Mumbai robbery Man steals gold necklace from Ambe MaataAfter the police checked over 50 CCTV cameras over a span of four days they spotted a pattern First they noticed the suspicious movement of a person in a pink shirt and blue jeans walking extremely slowly at 630pm He was continuously looking at a biker on the opposite side of the road with a helmet on added PSI SawantPrafulla Pawar and Nasir SheikhThen the connected him to another man walking towards Ganesh Bhavan mdash where Mehta lives mdash at around 730 pm The pieces then fall in place as after 8 pm three people came hurriedly and sat in car with another person who has not been made an accused The biker left soon afterConnecting the dotsThere was certainly a sequence so we started tracing the car through CCTV cameras located in the area Luck almost favoured the robbers as their car wasnt caught at any signal but we managed to get one frame where the number plate was visible said senior inspector Bhaskarrao SawantThe police found that the car was registered with a woman in Nalasopara Our team raided the place and recovered the stolen imitation jewellery worth around R80000 We also arrested Prafulla Pawar the person who we spotted first said the policeWheres the moneyAfter interrogation the police understood the modus operandi where Ijaz the mastermind entered the house and was helped by the other absconding accused Aslam Pawar and the nowarrested Nasir Sheikh waited outside for them During interrogation Pawar and Sheikh also claimed that Ijaz is the mastermindRead Story Mumbai Crime Woman faked robbery to save her gold from inlawsMeanwhile Pawar and Nasir have been arrested under IPC sections 454 457 380 and 34 Almost 90 per cent of the haul is with Ijaz and Aslam so we are on the look out for both and are confident of arresting the duo soon PSI Sawant added15Number of luxury watches that were part of bootyRs 45LCash that was taken