A 25-year-old man, who worked as a caretaker at a house in Pune, was on the run for about a month after stealing gold ornaments worth Rs 6.2 lakhs from a bungalow in New Sangvi, was arrested by the police on Monday after the accused was tricked into a romantic relationship through a social media account made in the name of a woman. The man agreed for a rendezvous to meet the “woman” at Kalpataru chowk, where police were waiting to arrest him.
Sandeep Bhagwan Hande (25), the arrested man is a resident of Walhekarwadi area of Chinchwad and a native of Gangapur in Aurangabad. He was arrested under Section 380 (theft in the dwelling house, etc) of Indian Penal Code after a case was lodged against him on October 17 at Sangvi police station.
A complaint was registered by Sangita Kankaria(52), a resident of New Sangvi, with the police claiming that unidentified people stole ornaments worth Rs 6.2 lakhs and cash of Rs 40,000 from her bungalow. The complaint mentioned that the family had appointed a caretaker on September 21 but barely in four days he left the job.
Pune Police traps the thief by posing as a woman
The police traced the mobile phone location of the caretaker and established contact with him by creating a fake Facebook account in the name of a woman. He accepted the Facebook friend request and started having “romantic chats” with the woman. A few days later, the man agreed to meet the “woman” at Kalpataru chown in Pimpri-Chinchwad, where police personnel were waiting to nab him.
“Since he was approached through a female person’s profile, he assumed he was coming to meet a woman. Being unaware of the police’s plot, he came at the spot predecided for the meeting and was arrested from there,” a police official said.
24 tola gold jewellery and Rs 20,000 in cash, which collectively sums up to Rs 6,15,000 have been recovered by the police from the burglar.
Sandeep initially gave vague answers. However, he confessed to the theft as soon as police showed him the outlines. This was done by a team of Senior Inspector of Police Ranganath Unde and Inspector of Police (Crime) Ajay Bhosale.
