Housing society pays price of hiring burglar as security guard

What residents of New Geet Govind Housing Society in Kothrud unwittingly did was akin to leaving a lamb in the care of a lion In an injudicious move the inhabitants hired Karan Sagne Lohar as security guard without even a perfunctory background check Had they been a little more inquisitive they would have learnt that the 25yearold had been imprisoned in Gujarat earlier for his role in several housebreaking cases Perceiving an opening Lohar and three other accomplices struck at the empty flat of a businessman and made away with cash and jewellery amounting to Rs 75 lakh in the wee hours of April 30 Inside job u00a0Karan Sagne Lohar right and three other accomplices struck at the empty flat of a businessman in the society extreme right and made away with cash and jewellery amounting to Rs 75 lakh PicsZang Aier However Kothrud police managed to arrest the guard and a relative mdash Devisingh Batala mdash who had given him patronage in Surat on Sunday morning Both hail from Kailali district in Nepal A complaint had been registered by Prakash Parmar the affected businessman ldquoI stay with my family in this flat My parents had gone out of town for spend the night with my brother who lives nearby In the morning a relative had gone to the society flat to pick up some things However she found the security door and the main door open and the latches brokenrdquo Parmar told MiD DAY The businessman added that on arriving there after being alerted he found that gold and silver ornaments and cash had been stolen from a cupboard in the bedroom ldquoI immediately tried to call the security guard but his phone was switched off I then contacted the police control room and reported the housebreakingrdquo he said The victim later came to know that Karan who had been hired by the housing society three months ago had disappeared with his belongings and his room was empty Parmar said that the previous security guard Sagar had left the job four months ago and it was he who had referred Karan to the society members The guard was receiving Rs 5000 per month and a small room on the ground floor for accommodation from the society Some residents revealed that the night before the housebreaking Karan had taken some money from them and partied in his room Copspeak ldquoDuring investigations we came to know that the Karan was working there for the last three months and the society members did not hire him from registered security agencyrdquo said SB Navale inspector crime of Kothrud police station He added that constables Hemant Hendre and Sanjay Paigude were given the responsibility to probe the matter Speaking to MiD DAY Hendre said that during the inquest they came to know that the SIM card used by Karan was procured with forged documents But cops managed to track the stillactive number to Surat ldquoPaigude and I then went to Surat and arrested Karan and Devisingh We also recovered 22 gms of gold ornaments and Rs 8000 in cash Meanwhile Karanrsquos three accomplices are absconding and police have intensified the search as a major chunk of the booty is with them u00a0 Past imperfect Paigude said that in the course of investigations cops came to know that Karan had served time in a Surat jail for housebreaking After being released four months ago he came to Pune where with the help of Sagar mdash who is also a distant relative mdash the accused landed the job as a security guard