The accused needed money to meet his sweetheart, who lives in Pune; he and an associate stole cellphones and laptops from the hostel on several occasions
A 20-year-old, who was stealing from physicians at Sir JJ Group of Hospitals with surgical precision, has been arrested along with an aide.
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While Rohit Jadhav (left) climbed into the quarters and stole the goods, his accomplice Paresh Waghela kept watch. Pics/Milind Karekar
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The mother of the main accused works as a sweeper with the institute. Cops say Rohit Jadhav and his associate Paresh Waghela (24) whose father is a compounder committed several robberies in the residential quarters. JJ Marg police had to set up a special squad to hunt the miscreants after receiving many complaints.
JJ Hospital
“We were monitoring unidentified persons entering the premises, who may be responsible for the thefts at the JJ hostel, but most of the time we waited at the gates and still the burglaries continued. Resident doctors would complain to us about cellphones and laptops going missing,” said Shashikant Surve, senior inspector of JJ Marg police station.
Surve and deputy commissioner of police, zone I, Ravindra Shisve reached the conclusion that the thefts were the handiwork of an insider. So on Sunday, assistant police inspector Shivaji Gaikwad and constables Sanjay Tupe and Kuber Patil, all from JJ Marg police station, kept watch outside the hostel.
“We chose a spot where nobody could see us. Around 5.30 am, we saw a youngster climbing the hostel building via a drainage pipe, and another maintaining vigil. When we reached there, they started to run,” said Gaikwad. The staff managed to intercept Rohit, who is a resident of the hospital’s servant quarters courtesy his mother, and Paresh.
“Initially during questioning they denied any role in the thefts. But when we checked with other people in the vicinity, they told us that the youths used to spend a lot of money on clothes and drinks. Both were sons of class IV employees, so we suspected something was amiss and interrogated them separately. That’s when they confessed,” said Surve.
Police later learnt that Rohit, who was a student of Siddharth College at Fort, had met a girl – studying at Symbiosis College in Pune via Facebook. They had started meeting, but Rohit could not afford to go to Pune regularly, so he began stealing from JJ hospital hostel to arrange funds. “While Paresh kept watch, Rohit mounted the drainage pipes and stole mobiles and laptops, gaining access through unfastened doors and windows. We have recovered two laptops and eight cellphones from them,” said Shisve.u00a0
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