Police crack series of theft cases

NT NETWORK
Posted on 2008-10-03
BICHOLIM - In what may be considered to be a major breakthrough for the men in khaki, the Bicholim police have succeeded in cracking a series of theft cases witnessed in the state in the recent past with the arrest of two persons, Raju Chari and Prakash Patil.
The duo who are related, stand accused in around 15 cases of house breaking and thefts reported at Calangute, Mapusa, Porvorim, Pernem and Bicholim in the last two months with the police recovering property including gold worth about Rs 3 lakh. The police also say that the duo have been involved in thefts in the neighbouring states of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Police say that items recovered like cameras and mobiles were probably stolen from Calangute and Bicholim.
“These two specialise in daytime robberies,” the Bicholim police inspector, Mr Braz Menezes told ‘The Navhind Times,’ adding that they preferred this method due to the reduced police presence during the day. He said that another surprising find was a gold melting instrument normally found with goldsmiths, who use it to melt gold. He said that they used the instrument to melt the gold after their robberies and change the shape. Mr Menezes also said that the accused had claimed that the recovered gold was from robberies outside the state.
The investigating officer, police sub inspector, Mr Terrence Vaz told this daily that the modus operandi of the crime was that they broke the front door locks and entered the place and the accused had confessed to the crimes committed at Mapusa, Porvorim, Calangute, Bicholim and Pernem.
He also said that Chari who was arrested on August 28 had been remanded to police custody till October 4 after which the police will ask for further remand in order to continue the investigations into the case while the second, Patil was arrested by Bicholim police on September 29 and is at present serving a remand of 7 days police custody.
The police say that the duo were involved in at least 30 cases earlier and were even arrested and had apparently served time.