According to police, however, last week, the accused was finally nabbed when he failed to spot a CCTV camera installed outside a shop in Borivali, which helped in identifying him, leading to his arrest.
POLICE HAVE arrested a 39-year-old man for allegedly stealing batteries of motorcycles, especially Bajaj Pulsars and Royal Enfields, during early morning hours. Police said the accused, identified as Shankar Karekar, is a school dropout from Dahisar.
They added that Karekar would target an area after conducting a thorough recce. According to police, however, last week, the accused was finally nabbed when he failed to spot a CCTV camera installed outside a shop in Borivali, which helped in identifying him, leading to his arrest.
Police said they had previously arrested Karekar six times, adding that he was out on bail.
Each time he committed a theft, Karekar would scan the area for CCTV cameras and would then cover his face, police said. “He stole several bike batteries in the areas between Borivali, Kandivali and Mira Road this year and several police stations were on the lookout for him,” said an officer.
On April 15, he allegedly stole a bike battery and a case was registered at Kasturba Marg police station.
“During our investigation, we started looking for CCTV cameras but there weren’t any. Later a person in the area said a jeweller has installed CCTV cameras outside his office for security reasons and when we checked, we located him,” said an officer.
The investigation team then followed the CCTV cameras and landed at his doorstep in Dahisar. “Usually in a bid to mislead, he would hide his face and wouldn’t go directly return home because of which we failed to locate him earlier. But this time, he did a recce and could not spot a CCTV camera and chose to not cover his face,” an investigator added.
Police added that he had been booked under relevant sections of theft of the Indian Penal Code. He was produced in court and initially remanded to police custody but later sent to jail custody.
Source: indianexpress
