A thief with a fetish for diamonds

Mumbai: He was a suave thief with a fetish for diamonds. And he went about robbing people with panache.

Rehmat Ali Rangrez (30), notorious for high-profile robberies across Mumbai was arrested on Sunday with two of his accomplices for robbing diamonds worth Rs 32 lakh.

The trio used to waylay people riding snazzy cars and used such cars to drive into plush housing complexes and break into apartments.

The matter came to light last month when the police were probing the theft of diamonds at the Dadar residence of S Thakur. The gang had conducted a careful reconnaissance of Thakur's home before robbing expensive diamonds.

Investigations led the police to suspect Rangrez, who had been arrested in 2008 in connection with a robbery of diamonds worth Rs 2 crore.

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The sequence of events leading to the theft at Thakur's Dadar home bore a striking resemblance to Rangrez's modus operandi. The suspect had used an expensive car to enter the high-security residential complex in which Thakur lived.

"He knew which house was unoccupied and also knew of the booty in such houses," said a police officer.

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Rangrez, who hails from Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh, used to abandon the car after the theft and fly back home to avoid being caught while travelling by train or bus.

"He always booked his airline ticket in advance. This could help him save valuable time after each robbery," said Assistant Police Inspector Jayendra Sawant of Dadar police station.

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Rangrez, who was arrested from his village, was produced before a magistrate at Bhoiwada yesterday.

His accomplices have been identified as Sunil Jaiswal (25) and Dhanajay Singh (27) alias Bhim.

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Jaiswal and Singh have told the police that Rangrez used to keep the diamonds while the gold and silver were distributed between them.