Mumbai:
The Kandivli police have arrested a man and his daughter for a series of mobile thefts from showrooms located across the western suburbs. Cops also arrested a mobile vendor who allegedly purchased the stolen mobiles from the duo.
Raju Shinde, 60, and his 19-year-old daughter Nisha were arrested on Saturday. Mangesh Ratanlal Jain, 36, who owns a mobile shop in a mall near Borivli station, was arrested yesterday.
According to cops, a mobile showroom owner had filed a complaint last month. In his statement 19-year-old Kamlesh Purohit had stated that two people had come to his shop Ashapura mobile and electronics, on April 27 and asked him to show them some phones. Raju told Purohit that he works at the airport and that he needed to buy a mobile phone for a friend's daughter who was celebrating her birthday.
Raju then said that he would buy the mobile only after showing it to his friend's daughter. Raju said that his friend and his daughter were at a hotel in Andheri (East) and that if Purohit would agree to travel with him in the rickshaw, he would pay the auto fare. Purohit accepted his offer and set out with them with two mobiles worth Rs 16,000.
When they reached a building in Andheri, Raju asked Purohit to wait in the rickshaw while he and his daughter went to show the phone to his friend. After waiting for nearly 30 minutes, Purohit went to look for them. He realised that there was another door on the other side of the building from which the father and daughter had escaped. Purohit was also forced to pay the auto fare.
Daughter's blunder
During their journey from Kandivli to Andheri, Purohit had taken Nisha's mobile number by which the accused were tracked down and arrested.
A police officer from Kandivli police station said, "The duo was arrested on Saturday. They were produced in court and have been remanded to police custody. During investigation, the accused informed that they sold these mobile phones to Jain and therefore we arrested him yesterday. We are investigating the case further." Till now the police said that father-daughter duo have been involved in similar crimes which are registered in several police stations in Samta Nagar, Andheri, Vile Parle, Dadar, Dindoshi, Khar and Navghar.