Mumbai: Gang robs jewellery store after bribing watchman with whiskey

ldquoToo much of anything is bad but too much good whiskey is barely enoughrdquo writer Mark Twain had quipped once And all it took a gang of robbers to convince a watchman to allow them to use his cabin to enter the adjoining jewellery store to steal from it was a quarter of whiskeyWatchman Karan Bahadur asked the gang of robbers what he would get in return for allowing them to enter his cabin and make a hole in the wall to the jewellery shop ldquoA whiskey bottlerdquo he was told and Bahadur agreedUnit XI of Mumbai Crime Branch learnt this while investigating the robbery in Dahisar The robbery occurred in Kamal Jewellers in Dahisar West on the intervening night between January 24 and January 25 The tippleloving watchman was identified as Karan BahadurAs Bahadur enjoyed his drink the robbers entered the shop They broke the locker using a gas cutter provided by Rahul YadavA Crime Branch official said the guard had joined only a couple of days ago as a temporary replacement for the earlier watchman who had gone to his native place The residential society which had employed Bahadur had not taken any of his details or recordsWhile leaving the robbers told Bahadur who was already drunk to escape since the police were sure to arrest him for the crime IllustrationAmit BandreBahadurrsquos cabin at the society gate shares a wall with the jewellery store Bahadur allegedly knew one of the robbers and happened to share this piece of information with him Taking advantage of this the gang decided to break into the storeThe gang asked Bahadur to let them enter his cabin in order to gain entry into the shop and Bahadur was happy to oblige in exchange for a quarter of whiskey ldquoDo what you wantrdquo he told the gang as he set about to enjoy his drink and later slept off The gang broke down the wall entered the shop and cut open the locker with a gas cutterThe gang decamped with booty worth Rs 17 lakh but before fleeing they made sure to warn Bahadur to run away as well since police were sure to nab him for the crimeWhen the owner opened his shop in the morning he found his locker had been broken into and the wall to his shop also the wall for the watchmanrsquos cabin had a gaping hole He then informed the cops and registered a case with the MHB Colony police stationThe arrestsCrime Branch started a parallel investigation as well Shivaji Dahifode a constable from Unit XI happened to notice the bill for a newly purchased mobile phone that showed the IMEI number of the phone Cops began tracing the location of the mobile phone through this numberldquoWe found that the mobile with this IMEI number is active and the location of that device was showing Ahmedabad We immediately sent our team there and arrested the accused building watchman Bahadur who allowed the robbers to enter the shoprdquo said Manohar Hadpude assistant police inspector API Unit XI Crime BranchUpon questioning Bahadur pointed out the role of one Rahul Yadav who had provided the gas cutter and had been paid a sum for his services Another accused Anwar was arrested by the Kalyan Government Railway Police GRP on January 26 during checking at Kalyan stationAnwar who was trying to flee to his native place in Uttar Pradesh couldnrsquot explain why his bag contained so many ornaments was nabbed on the spot Police also managed to recover around Rs 56 lakh from his person However Kamruddin Shaikh the mastermind and a wanted man in many bank robbery cases and another accused robber are still absconding Police said he has used the same modus operandi on other occasions as wellA Crime Branch official confirmed Bahadur had not been paid anything except the alcohol Yadav had been paid a certain sum for providing the cutter Yadav and Bahadur were produced before Borivli court and remanded in police custody The GRP are yet to hand over custody of Anwar