The Pune city police have arrested an X-Ray technician for allegedly breaking into the house of a software company owner in Koregaon Park and stealing gold ornaments and cash of about Rs 43 lakh last month. The police said it was found that the burglar identified as Rohit Vilas Andhare, 25, a native of Dharashiv district, committed the crime on the intervening night of May 17 and May 18 using the motorcycle belonging to a sharebroker’s family that died by ‘mass suicide’ two years ago.
“Prima-facie, it is suspected that the accused was debt ridden and so he committed the theft,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Pankaj Deshmukh, adding that almost all the valuables stolen from the software company owner’s house had been recovered.
Andhare has been currently residing in the Kharadi area of Pune city and is learnt to have shifted to the city for employment, senior police inspector Nandakumar Bidwai said.
“Probe so far revealed that the accused has no previous criminal record. He committed the theft at Hadapsar single-handedly, without seeking help from any other person,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime) Nikhil Pingle, during a press conference today.
The owner of the plush house at One North Society in Magarpatta had lodged the complaint of theft at his house at the Hadapsar police station.
During a parallel investigation, the Crime Branch sleuths got details of a motorcycle used by the unidentified burglar. The team carried out a rigorous technical investigation for about three weeks, including the analysis of 170 videos captured by CCTV cameras around the crime scene and other locations, and trapped Andhare near the Godbole Vasti in Manjari area on June 11.
A police officer said that the motorcycle belonged to a sharebroker, who, along with his wife and two children, all residents of Keshav Nagar in the Mundhwa area, had died by suicide in January 2023. An investigation is on to determine how the accused got this motorcycle or whether he had stolen it.
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The Crime Branch has handed over the accused to the Hadapsar police station for further investigation.
