Nervous thief gives the game away, ₹1.56 cr recovered | Mumbai news

MUMBAI: A nervous thief, who hid his face while attempting to board an outstation train with a bag full of stolen cash, gave the game away and helped a businessman get a significant part of his stolen money back. Police have made two arrests in the case, while one accused is still at large. They have also recovered ₹1.56 crore of the ₹1.85 that was stolen.

According to the VP Road police, Hitesh Khatri, a real estate agent with a courier service business, has an office in Bhoiwada, Girgaon. One of his two employees, Vijay Rajput, 19, had tipped off two associates, Dhanaji Rajput, 20, and Hitesh Rajput, 20, that Khatri had kept ₹1.85 crore in a cupboard in his office.

On February 22, Naresh Rajput, the other employee, phoned Khatri and told him that the cash appeared to have been stolen. CCTV footage revealed that two unknown persons had entered the office at 9:15 am and seemed to have made off with the money, police said.

Khatri registered a complaint with the VP Road police and an investigation was initiated. While police questioned his employees, on February 23, the railway police at Mumbai Central station nabbed Dhanaji Rajput as he was moving around suspiciously, covering his face while carrying a bag. Dhanaji had split the loot with Hitesh – he was carrying ₹1.05 crore, while Hitesh was carrying ₹51 lakh.

Senior inspector Jagdish Kulkarni of the VP Road police said Dhanaji and Hitesh were about to board a long-distance train for Gujarat, when Dhanaji was picked up. Hitesh, however, managed to flee. Information provided by Dhanaji helped police recover the missing ₹51 lakh from Hitesh’s home in Gujarat, although Hitesh is still on the run, said Kulkarni.

While Dhanaji was arrested on February 23 and ₹1.05 crore recovered from him, Vijay Rajput’s role in the theft surfaced and he was arrested the following day. Both of them were produced in court on Sunday and have been remanded to police custody till Mach 5.