Family-run burglary gang busted in Thane; five arrested

Representational image. File pic

Two men and a teen have been arrested and their minor sons detained for allegedly carrying out a series of house break-ins and burglaries in Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Sunday.

As per news agency PTI, earlier this week, the Mahatma Phule Chowk (MFC) police in Kalyan busted a family-run burglary ring in which the men scouted for locked houses and directed their sons to break in and steal valuables, a senior police official said.

Police seize Rs 21.6 lakh

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Kalyan) Ashok Honmane further said that the police have arrested a 19-year-old man, two fathers and two minors. The officials also recovered stolen gold ornaments worth Rs 21.6 lakh.

The police official further said that the matter came to light following a complaint lodged on May 8 in Kalyan West, following which a case of housebreaking and theft was subsequently registered, as per PTI.

Acting on tip-offs, the police arrested Kailas Vilas Bhalerao (19), a resident of Mohane in Ambivali, on May 13, and detained two minors aged 14 and 15 years, the official said.

The official further added, "Interrogation revealed that the fathers, Vilas Prakash Bhalerao (38) and Deepak Ashok Jadhav (40), used their daily jobs to recce houses in residential societies and would then pass on this specific information to their children," as cited by PTI.

The arrested teen accused would target the houses along with the minors and decamp with cash and jewellery.

Moreover, the investigations have also revealed that the gang was involved in at least three other burglaries in the Kalyan area.

Thane police arrest two women for stealing gold ornaments from bus passengers

The Thane Crime Branch has arrested two women for allegedly stealing gold ornaments from citizens and solved nine such cases with the recovery of jewellery worth Rs 37.19 lakh, an official said on Friday, reported PTI.

Senior Inspector Sachin Gaikwad of Crime Unit-I said the accused targeted elderly commuters and passengers on crowded buses, reported PTI.

The latest case came to light after a 72-year-old woman recently approached the police, saying a gold-encrusted purse was stolen from her bag when she was travelling by bus from Kharegaon Naka to Ozone Valley bus stop in Thane.

(With inputs from PTI)